Sana'a, Yemen - Kidnappers holding three Germans in Yemen denied on Friday reports claiming that they have demanded the release of two clerics jailed in the United States.

"We never demanded the release of a cleric," Abdu-Rahu Saleh al-Tam, the chief kidnapper told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "Those are baseless reports."

He spoke via a mobile phone from a hideout in Naba'ah, a mountainous area east of the capital, Sana'a, where he and four other tribesmen had been holding the German mother, father and daughter since December 15.

"Our demands are specified from the beginning, and no other demands are added," he said. (dpa)