Yemeni forces free eight al Qaeda hostages, U.S. says no Americans -...

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Yemeni security forces freed seven Yemeni hostages and a foreigner in a raid in which seven al Qaeda kidnappers were also killed, the country's supreme security committee said.

The committee did not disclose the nationality of the foreign hostage.

A Yemeni government source had earlier said the foreigner was a U.S. military instructor who worked at al-Anad air base in Lahej province, 60 km (40 miles) north of the port city of Aden.

But in Washington, a U.S. defense official said "there were no U.S. personnel rescued from Yemen last night".

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. authorities applauded the Yemeni government for the hostage rescue operation. He referred requests for information to the Yemeni government.

The committee said in a statement that one member of the Yemeni security forces was lightly wounded in the operation.

Yemen, which borders the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, is home to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), regarded by Washington as one of the most active branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden.

The Pentagon said in 2012 that the United States had resumed on-the-ground military training aimed at bolstering Yemen's fight against al Qaeda following a suspension of such help during a period of intense political upheaval.

Kidnapping is common in Western-backed Yemen, which is battling an insurgency from Islamists linked to al Qaeda, a southern separatist movement and sporadic conflicts with armed tribes.

Hostage-taking specifically targeting Westerners is sometimes carried out by militants but is also used as a tactic by tribesmen to resolve disputes with the government, and by opportunists hoping to sell hostages on to other groups.

Earlier this month, the United Nations said a water engineer for Sierra Leone working Yemen had been freed more than a year after being seized by unidentified armed men.

REUTERS