A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Dibeh Fakhr told the press on Tuesday that not one of its staff member had been kidnapped on Monday but three. She added that all were believed to be in good health and in no immediate danger.
"Our colleagues told us that they are fine," told AFP, confirming the three employees were being held by a group in southern Yemen since Monday.
While she chose not to reveal the names and nationalities of the aid workers, the Yemeni authorities already established on Monday that one of the abductee is a Swiss national. It is believed that a Yemeni interpreter was with him at the time of the attack alongside a Kenyan national, also an aid worker for the ICRC.
Local sources confirmed that the kidnappers are all tribesmen from al-Marakisha tribe, a group now responsible for several kidnappings in the area.
Last week, two Egyptian nationals and two Indian nationals were attacked in similar circumstances by al Marakisha men. The tribe is said to be trying to force the Yemeni government into freeing a fellow tribesman from jail where he is serving his sentence.
The trio have been taken to a mountainous area north of Jaar, a tribal source told the press on Tuesday.
Fakhr said that while the tribe had yet to make its motives known the government had already set up a committee in charge of the negotiating process.