2 Saudi soldiers kidnapped in Yemen

SANAA, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Two Saudi soldiers of the Saudi-led coalition forces fighting in Yemen have been kidnapped in Yemen's northern province of Jawf, pro-government Almasdaronline news website reported on Thursday.

The two Saudis were kidnapped on Wednesday while in duty on a coalition's militarily patrol car near Yemeni government-held city of Hazm in Jawf by a car-theft gang, said the report, citing an unnamed Yemeni security source in Hazm city.

"The kidnappers demand the release of their followers from a prison in the government-held neighboring province of Marib," the report quoted the security source as saying.

He said that six Yemeni soldiers who were in the same patrol car were also kidnapped by the theft gang.

Another military source was quoted by the website as saying that a force from the coalition is preparing to move to Bani Nouf tribe in Jawf to release the abductees by force.

The military source confirmed that the kidnappers were not Houthi rebels or terrorists, but a local car-theft gang.

Kidnapping is a common tribal culture to force authorities to release their imprisoned followers or to demand ransom.

Saudi Arabia is leading a military coalition that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to try to restore Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government back to power after dominant Houthi rebels forced him into exile and seized much of the country's north.