A Yemeni security armored vehicle patrol in the capital San'a, Yemen, Monday, June 15, 2009. Three German women hostages were found dead early Monday in the rugged Saada Mountains. (AP / Mohammed al-Qadhi)
The nine foreigners, including seven German nationals, a Briton and a South Korean, disappeared last week while on a picnic in the restive northern Saada region of Yemen.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, announced the discovery of the remaining six bodies Monday after three others had been found mutilated earlier in the day.
Yemen, the poorest nation in the Middle East, is home to restive tribes, a Shiite rebellion, as well as a branch of al Qaeda which operates in its remote regions and has often targeted foreigners as well as the U.S. embassy.
Shepherds roaming the area found the remains of three of the women in the mountainous northern Saada province near the town of el-Nashour, known as a hideout for al Qaeda militants, the official said.
In Berlin, the Foreign Ministry said it could not confirm the reports that the Germans had been killed. A spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said that a ministry crisis team and the German embassy in San'a were working together to try and get more details.
Yemeni authorities said the group included a German doctor, his wife and their three children, as well as a Briton and his South Korean wife and two other German nationals. They were all working in a hospital in Saada, the state news agency said.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry identified their national by her family name, Eom, and said she is a 34-year-old aid worker in Yemen.
Chantel Mortimer, the press officer at the British Embassy, expressed concern and said that the embassy is seeking information about the rest of the hostages including the British one.
"We are very concerned that bodies were found. We are seeking further details," she said.
The killing of hostages is not common in Yemen, where tribesmen often kidnap foreigners to press the government on a range of demands, including a ransom, but usually release them unharmed. Kidnapping involving al Qaeda, however, have been lethal for the hostages in the past.
A tribal leader in the area, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason as the security official, blamed al Qaeda for the Friday abduction and the killing.
Yemen is the Arab world's poorest nation -- and one of its most unstable -- making it fertile territory for al Qaeda to set up camp. The country is also in a strategic location, next door to some of the world's most important oil producing nations. It also lies just across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia, an even more tumultuous nation where the U.S. has said militants from the terror network have been increasing their activity.
Al Qaeda militants, including fighters returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, have established sanctuaries among a number of Yemeni tribes, particularly ones in three provinces bordering Saudi Arabia.
In January, militants announced the creation of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a merger between the terror network's Yemeni and Saudi branches, led by Naser Abdel-Karim al-Wahishi, a Yemeni who was once a close aide to Osama bin Laden. Over the past year, al Qaeda has been blamed for a string of attacks, including an armed assault in September on the U.S. Embassy in San'a, as well as two suicide bombings targeting South Korean visitors in March.
Earlier, the Yemeni government had accused a Shiite rebel group in Saada, led by Abdel Malak al-Hawthi, but the group issued a statement saying it has not been involved in any abductions of foreigners.
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