SANA, Yemen — Assailants stabbed a Japanese diplomat stationed in Yemen’s capital Sunday when he fought back during a failed kidnapping attempt, officials said, the latest unrest in a country beset by Al Qaeda militants.
The kidnappers attacked the diplomat not far from the Japanese Embassy in Sana, later fleeing with the man’s car, a security official said.
The official did not provide the diplomat’s name but said he was taken to hospital and that his injuries were not serious. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly to journalists.
Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Masaru Sato confirmed that an embassy official was attacked by an unspecified number of armed robbers as he tried to get into his car.
Yemeni media identified the diplomat as Katsusuke Sotomini, as did an official at the embassy in Sana.
Abductions are frequent in Yemen, an impoverished nation where armed tribesmen and Al Qaeda-linked militants take hostages to swap for prisoners or cash.