Sana'a  - Armed tribesmen kidnapped a Dutch couple in the Yemeni capital Sana'a on Tuesday, according to Sana'a governor Noman Dwaid and security officials.

Security authorities had located the area east of Sana'a where the hostages were being held, a local official said in remarks published on the website of Yemen's ruling party.

"Urgent measures were taken to secure the safety and release of the two tourists," Dwaid said.

Security sources initially said they believed the man and wife were Italian nationals.

The two were taken at gunpoint in a suburb in the south of the city by tribesmen from a little-known clan called Al Seraj, security sources told the German Press Agency dpa.

Dwaid said the kidnappers moved their hostages to Bani-Dhabian, a mountainous area about 80 kilometres east of Sana'a.

The kidnappers' demands were not immediately clear.

The kidnapping is the third involving foreigners in Yemen this year.

On January 18, tribesmen abducted a German oil expert in the south-eastern Yemeni province of Shabwa and released him two days later. The kidnappers demanded the release of a jailed fellow tribesman.

On January 3, tribesmen seeking the release of a jailed fellow clansman took a South African tourist and her two sons hostage for one day in the southern province of Abyan, and later released them unharmed.

Disgruntled tribesmen from impoverished areas of Yemen often take hostages to use as bargaining chips to press the government for aid, jobs or the release of detained fellow clansmen.

More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in Yemen since 1991. Almost all were released unharmed after mediation involving tribal leaders. (dpa)