An armed group kidnapped on Thursday a Swedish engineer working for the Batis Cement Factory in Yemen's southern Abyan Province, sources told Yemen Post reported. He was released hours later in a tribal agreement with the kidnappers.

It cited local sources as saying the gunmen, from the Al Abbad tribe, snatched the foreigner from his workplace and took him to an unidentified place.

The kidnappers were threatening he will not be released until the authorities set free their relative who had been detained on criminal charges, the sources said.

The reason for the kidnapping remains as usual: the demand for the release of detainees held by the authorities in connection with criminal acts or terrorist charges.