A Yemeni tribe freed an American oilman Thursday after holding him nearly a month, security sources in the Middle East nation said.
Security sources also said that five other Westerners — another American, two Italians and two others of unknown nationalities — kidnapped during the past two days were freed. The Italian Embassy in Yemen, however, dismissed that report.
Steve Carpenter, executive director of the Yemen-based Hashedi Contracting and Oil Co., was abducted by six gunmen Oct. 30 in San`a, the nation’s capital.
In exchange for his release, the Bakeel tribe had demanded freedom for an unspecified number of tribe members jailed for various crimes. They also wanted the government to resume $20 monthly subsidies for each of the tribe’s 200 members. The subsidies were cut in July under economic reforms.
