Armed tribesmen in Yemen have kidnapped an American couple traveling near the capital, Sanaa.
The tourists were abducted Monday along with their Yemeni driver.
The driver, in phone calls to the media, says the captors are demanding the release of a fellow tribesman who is being held by authorities in Sanaa.
The driver says six gunmen stopped them on a road in the Bani Mansour area, about 70 kilometers west of the capital. He says they were taken to the village of Hamra, and are being treated well. Tribesmen say the hostages are "guests" in the village.
Kidnappings of foreigners are frequent in Yemen and usually are carried out by tribesmen who use hostages to press local demands to government authorities.
However, some kidnappings in the past few years have been attributed to al-Qaida-linked militants in Yemen.
Last week, Saudi security forces freed two German children who were kidnapped in Yemen last year. The children's parents and toddler brother were also kidnapped and remain missing.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
