DHAKA: Yemeni security forces have freed eight hostages, including six Yemenis, a Saudi and an Ethiopian, in a raid.

Seven Al-Qaeda kidnappers were also killed in the raid, the country’s supreme security committee said.

The committee said in a statement that a member of the Yemeni security forces was lightly wounded in the operation in Hajr as-Say’ar district in the eastern province of Hadramout.

An earlier statement by the committee had said seven of the hostages were Yemenis and one was a foreigner, reports the Straits Times.

A Yemeni government source said at the time the foreigner was a United States military instructor, but a US defense official denied that report.

Yemen, which borders the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, is home to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, regarded by Washington as one of the most active branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden.

BDST: 1054 HRS, NOV 26, 2014