Al-Qaeda in Yemen: Video of kidnapped ‘Bangladeshi UN official’ released
Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch released a video on Saturday showing a "Bangladeshi UN official" who was abducted in the war-torn country more than six months ago, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.
Five UN staff members were kidnapped in Abyan in February while returning to the port city of Aden after a field mission, UN spokesperson Eri Kaneko told AFP at the time.
In Saturday's video message apparently recorded on August 9, Akam Sofyol Anam, identified by SITE as a Bangladeshi, urges "the UN, the international community, the humanitarian organisations, to please come forward... and meet the demands of my captors", without outlining the demands.
He said he was facing "serious health trouble," including heart problems, and needed "immediate medical support and hospitalisation," according to SITE.
Anam, who SITE identified as the "director of the United Nations Office of Security and Safety in Yemen," said he and four colleagues were kidnapped on February 11, reports Al Arabia News.
Formed in a merger of Al-Qaeda's Yemen and Saudi branches, AQAP has carried out attacks on both rebel and government targets in Yemen as well as foreigners.
It has been accused of plotting attacks beyond the Middle East and its leaders have been targeted by a US drone war for more than two decades, although the number of strikes has dropped off in recent years.
Yemen's UN-brokered ceasefire has drastically reduced fighting since the truce began in April, but outbreaks of violence continue.
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