Saudis refuse to negotiate with diplomat's kidnapper

Jeddah Saudi Arabia rejected any negotiations with Al Qaida for the release of a diplomat seized in Yemen last month and vowed to do all it can to free the hostage, a pan-Arab newspaper reported Wednesday.

A suspected Al Qaida militant who claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a Saudi Arabian diplomat in Yemen has warned that his group will "prepare the knives" unless their demands are met, an official Saudi spokesman said on Tuesday.

Mishaal Al Shodoukhi, who was named on a list of fugitive Al Qaida militants by Saudi authorities in 2009, phoned the Saudi embassy in Yemen to demand a ransom and the release of militants in Saudi prisons, the spokesman said. He also threatened more attacks.

Abdullah Al Khalidi, the kingdom's deputy consul in the southern Yemeni port of Aden, was kidnapped outside his residence there on March 28.

"There are some people here who have been calling, ever since Al Khalidi was kidnapped, to prepare the knives [to kill him]... Now it is a consul kidnapped, tomorrow it will be an embassy bombing and after that a prince killed," Shodoukhi said, according to a transcript of his conversation with the embassy released by Saudi authorities.

"The Saudi embassy in Yemen received phone calls by Shodoukhi ... saying that he represents the ‘evil group' and confirming that they have kidnapped the deputy consul in Aden," a security spokesman was quoted as state news agency SPA.

Yemen's political turmoil has strengthened Islamist insurgents in the country, leading to their takeover of some cities in the south of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state. They are allied with a regional wing of Al Qaida that has sworn to bring down neighbouring Saudi Arabia's ruling family.

The Saudi spokesman, Mansour Al Turki, confirmed to Reuters that the reference to the "evil group" meant Al Qaida in Yemen.

Demands

"They have demands which include handing over a number of the prisoners, who are members of their organisation, in Yemen," the statement on SPA said.

Websites associated with Al Qaida did not carry a claim of responsibility for the abduction.

The transcript quoted Shodoukhi as demanding a ransom but saying he did not know how much it would be as "it will be agreed upon later; I am just a messenger".