Yemen's Interior Ministry has imposed tight measures around the Saudi Embassy , its offices, residential compounds of its staff and its consulate in Aden.
This move came three weeks after the abduction of a Saudi diplomat, Abdullah Al-Khalid, in the port city of Aden, and Al-Qaeda's claim that it abducted the diplomat.
According to the ministry's website, the ministry ordered its security services to be alert and ready to protect the embassy and its staff.
Saudi authorities have said that the Saudi Ambassador to Sana'a received a call from a Saudi Al-Qaeda operative, Mishaal Al-Shadokhi, who is based in Yemen and asked the ambassador to release Al-Qaeda militants in return for the release of Al-Khalidi.
Meanwhile, an assistant of the Saudi Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Saud, said that the Saudi Foreign Affairs Ministry will do best to release the Saudi diplomat, stressing that the Saudi Arabia will not bargain or negotiate Al-Qaeda militants who kidnapped Al-Qaeda.
Saudi officials said Tuesday the terrorist network's regional affiliate, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, claimed the kidnapping in a phone call to the Saudi Embassy in Yemen. They identified the caller as a wanted Saudi terror suspect, Mashaal Rasheed al-Shawdakhi.
The Saudi government said al-Shawdakhi demanded the release of militants jailed in Saudi Arabia and a ransom payment in exchange for the diplomat. It said the caller warned that al-Qaida will kill the diplomat, attack a Saudi embassy and assassinate a Saudi prince if the demands are not met. Riyadh rejected the threats.
Yemen's turmoil has caused a security vacuum, which al-Qaeda has used to seize large swaths of territory across the restive south.