Bulgarian envoy escapes Yemen kidnap attempt

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SANAA – Bulgaria’s ambassador to Yemen escaped a kidnap attempt on Saturday while he was driving through Sanaa in a diplomatic car, security officials said on Sunday.

“Masked armed men stopped the car of the Bulgarian ambassador to kidnap him, but the diplomat managed to escape and hide in a nearby shop,” an official told AFP.

The attempt against Ambassador Boris Ignatyev Pursov took place on Algeria Street, a main thoroughfare in the Yemeni capital, at around 17:00 pm (1400 GMT), another official said.

The Bulgarian embassy refused to comment.

More than 200 people have been abducted in Yemen over the past 15 years, many of them by members of the country’s powerful tribes who use them as bargaining chips with the authorities.

Almost all of those kidnapped were later freed unharmed.