Sana'a, Yemen - Armed tribesmen kidnapped three Germans in western Yemen on Monday to press for the release of relatives detained by police, senior government officials said.

Sana'a, Yemen  - At least 88 people were killed and 582 others injured in traffic accidents in Yemen over the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival, police said on Saturday.

The traffic police said in a statement the Arab country's roads witnessed 360 accidents during the period from December 4 to 12.

The figure is nearly double the number of fatalities during the Eid al-Fitr festivities two months ago, when 48 people died in road accidents nationwide.

Excessive speed, recklessness and chewing the mild stimulant drug of qat by drivers, were to blame for those accidents, the statement said.

Traffic accidents claim the lives of around 3,000 people in Yemen every year, according to official figures.

Sana'a, Yemen  - Somali pirates hijacked two Yemeni fishing ships and took 22 fishermen hostage in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, Yemen's Interior Ministry said.

The pirates attacked the ships as they sailed off the Mait area near the southern port city of Aden, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

Before the pirates took control of the ships, seven fishermen escaped on a small boat to report the attacks to the Yemeni Coast Guard Authority in Aden, the statement said.

Sana'a, Yemen - Somali pirates on Wednesday freed a Yemeni cargo ship after negotiations with Somali tribal leaders, Yemen's Ambassador in Somalia Ahmed Hamid Omar said.

"All the 10 pirates have left the ship, and we expect it to leave the Eyl port today," Omar told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone from Eyl port in the semi-autonomous Puntland region in northern Somalia.

Eyl is the stronghold of the Somali pirates.

Sana'a, Yemen - Eight Somali pirates have abandoned a Yemeni cargo ship after negotiations with Somali tribal leaders, but two other pirates were still on board the ship Monday, the ship's owner said.

"Eight pirates have already left the ship after tribal dignitaries convinced them to do so," Attas Salim Aboud told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

He said the two other pirates who were still holding the ship's crew hostage and would likely leave the vessel within the next few hours.

Eight crew members - three Yemenis, three Somalis and two Tanzanians - were taken hostage by the pirates.

Sana'a, Yemen - At least 18 Somalis and Ethiopians drowned off Yemen on Monday, and 73 were still missing after smugglers forced them to jump overboard from two boats, rescuers said.

They told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa the smugglers ordered 236 migrants to swim ashore when the boats approached the end of their trip off the southern Yemeni town of Ahwar, around 220 kilometres east of the southern port city of Aden.

Thirteen bodies were recovered and buried by teams of a local humanitarian organization, and five bodies were buried by fishermen, they said.