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The nine foreigners, who are working for a Christian relief group, had been warned to stop trying to proselytize local Muslims. |
CAIRO — Missionary activities are blamed for the kidnapping of nine foreigners, including a British engineer, in northern Yemen after warnings from locals to stop attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity.
"A British engineer kidnapped in Yemen by armed killers was part of an evangelical group that may have been targeted as an act of revenge for its attempts to convert local Muslims to Christianity," the Times commented on Sunday, June 21.
The engineer, identified as Anthony, was among nine foreigners kidnapped in the northern province of Saada last week.
A day later, three women from the group -- two German nurses and a South Korean -- were found dead with "missionary materials" alongside.
According to the Times, the foreigners, who are working for the Christian relief group Worldwide Services, had been warned to stop trying to proselytize local Muslims.
Yemeni scholars had also spoken out against their missionary activities and their books on Christianity had been confiscated.
Initially, Yemeni authorities blamed Shiite rebels for the abductions and killings, but investigations by German and British investigators proved that the Houthis were not involved.
Based in Holland, Worldwide Services is a Christian relief group that has been working at al-Jumhuri hospital in Saada for 30 years.
It is connected to a British evangelical organization called the Worldwide Evangelization for Christ (WEC).
The WEC website says its mission is to "reach the remaining unreached peoples of the world with the good news of Jesus, to plant churches where there is no church."
Alive
Yemeni officials believe that the six remaining foreigners are still alive.
"The information we have is that no bodies of any one of the six hostages were found and there is a possibility that they are still alive," Interior Minister Motahar al-Masri told a press conference, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He said the hostages had defied a directive from security forces advising foreigners not to move around the country unless accompanied by guards.
"The authorities received the threat of an attack and there was a warning given to the Germans asking them not to travel outside their area of work," he said.
Masri said coordination is going on with German, British and South Korean authorities to track down the perpetrators.
"This is a terrorist crime that aims to tarnish the reputation of Yemen and harm its interests, tourism, economy and security," he said.
Yemen has offered a reward of $275,000 for information leading to the capture of the kidnappers.
Foreigners are often kidnapped in Yemen by tribesmen to be used as bargaining chips with the government over local disputes.
More than 200 foreigners have been abducted over the past 15 years.
But this is the first time in more than a decade that those seized in kidnappings in Yemen are deliberately murdered.
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