Image: Yle

The three taken by unknown assailants on Friday were a Finnish man who is studying in Yemen, his wife who was visiting from Finland, and an Austrian man who is also studying Arabic in Yemen.

They were taken by their abductors in an electronics shop on Tahrir Square in central Sanaa.

The shopkeeper related that he had just started to serve them when three armed men in an old Suzuki Vitara pulled up, entered the shop and forced the two men and woman into the vehicle.

"The three foreigners came to look at cameras. At the same time, three men came in carrying guns. The woman fell to the floor immediately, then one of the men. The other put his hands up. They were paralyzed by fear. Then the kidnappers dragged them to the car," Brigade Commander Omar Abdulkarim told Reuters TV in Sanaa.

Culprits known

Officials in Yemen say that they know who the kidnappers are and the official in charge of security in Sanaa believes that they will soon be apprehended.

"We know who the individuals are who stole the licence plates that the kidnappers used on the car. The investigation is continuing and will arrest them soon," Omar Abdulkarim said on Saturday.

Also Saturday, the Finnish Foreign Ministry sent a representative to Yemen. Finland has no diplomatic mission in the country. The inquiry now started is being carried out in cooperation Austria.

The Foreign Ministry in Helsinki has released few details the incident and officials there, on Saturday, declined to comment when asked about demands by the captors.

The Ministry issued a travel advisory in the 17th of this month, warning of the threat of kidnappings in Yemen and urging Finns to avoid travel to the country.