Story highlights
NEW: Sources say negotiations are under way for the workers' release
Official: The workers' vehicles were intercepted by militants
The group includes four foreigners, the official says
Six aid workers were kidnapped Tuesday in Yemen’s Mahweet province, according to a senior Interior Ministry official.
Tribesmen intercepted the workers’ two vehicles and took them to an unknown destination, the official said.
Two Yemenis were among those abducted, along with a German, an Iraqi, a Palestinian and a Colombian, according to the official.
Military vehicles were deployed to search for the aid workers, the state-run Saba news agency reported.
The official said the Yemeni government was working to ensure that those kidnapped were released unharmed and as soon as possible.
Mahweet is located about 65 miles north of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. Residents in the area told CNN the kidnappers are seeking the release of Ali Ghanem al-Zubaidy, who is being held at the central security prison on suspicion of minor crimes.
Tribal sources in Mahweet said negotiations are under way with the kidnappers in an effort to get the workers released. The workers are safe, they said, and being treated well.
Kidnappings are common in Yemen. A Norwegian working for the United Nations, who was kidnapped by tribesmen from Mareb province, was released earlier this week after the government met most of the abductors’ demands.