Al-Qaeda Yemen: We do not have British hostages for them to be freed

The operation to free the British hostage in Yemen was a successful and heroic act that confirms the UAE’s intelligence capabilities, Emirati newspaper Al-Bayan reported.

Al-Bayan quoted experts who said: “Since Operation Decisive Storm was launched on 26 March in Yemen, the UAE announced its participation with 30 aircrafts, making it the second largest air force in the coalition led by Saudi Arabia. This confirms the leading role played by the UAE in combatting terrorism in the region.”

There has been no information regarding the details that allowed for the UAE forces in Aden to free a British hostage captured by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in February 2014.

Emirati media outlets were the first to report that Emirati forces in Yemen freed Robert Douglas Stuart Semple in what is described as a military intelligence operation.

The Crown Price of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, “made a phone call last night to David Cameron, British prime minister, in which he informed him that the Emirati forces in Yemen were able to reach the place where the British hostage Robert Semple was being held by Al-Qaeda in Yemen,” the paper reported.

However, Al-Qaeda in Yemen denied the UAE’s claims saying “we are not holding any British hostages.”

In a statement issued late yesterday night, the Al-Qaeda said: “The UAE government claimed that it freed a Briton who was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda… This news is untrue as we are not holding any British hostages.”

The AQAP statement called on media outlets to “investigate the story”.