Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that its high-ranking kidnapped diplomat, Abdullah Al-Kaladi, who was abducted late March in the southern port city of Aden, is being held by Yemen-based al-Qaeda branch, calling on the terror network to immediately release him.The kingdom’s Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said that their embassy in Sana'a has received a phone call from a Saudi citizen who is on the top of the ministry's wanted list since 2009, Mashal Mohammed Rashid al-Shadhoi.However, the Yemeni government refuses to confirm that al-Qaeda as a network is behind the kidnapping.
The fugitive informed the embassy that al-Kaladi is being held by al-Qaeda and relayed the terror network's demands, and conditions for releasing him.The conditions included that all detained members of al-Qaeda in the kingdom's jails, including ladies, be released and a ransom payment be paid, according to Turki.He mentioned six imprisoned ladies by name, including the women known as al-Qaeda lady, said Turik.For his part, Shiek Ali Abdu-Salam, a tribal dignitary in the south of the country, known as Zabara, confirmed that the kidnapped Saudi deputy consul is being held by al-Qaeda militants in the southern province of Shabwa, declining to reveal any further details other than saying that the whole Shabwa is under the militants group's control except for Ataq, the provincial capital.Turki warned of the great danger of terrorism in Yemen, saying today they abducted a diplomat, tomorrow they will explode an embassy and later they might kill a prince.