Australian kidnapped in Yemen identified

The Australian man that was abducted in Yemen has been identified as 56-year-old Craig Bruce McAllister.

Days after the Australian foreign minister announced that an Australian citizen who was in Yemen for a significant amount of time was kidnapped by unknown gunmen, the abductee appeared in a hostage video.

It is believed that McAllister had lived in Yemen for approximately six years, where he was coaching a youth football team in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital city.

The hostage video he appeared in was 24 seconds long. He did not appear to be harmed and simply stated that he was kidnapped by a group, without specifying who exactly it was who kidnapped him.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

He also mentioned that the group is asking for ransom money. “They are requesting that the Australian government send the money they have requested.”

McAllister did not mention when exactly the group requested money from the Australian government, or how much.

Yemen has been locked in a bitter battle between Shia Houthi fighters allied with forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh and government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, along with local tribes and resistance forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes.