The bodies of at least three, and possibly as many as seven, foreigners have been found in northern Yemen.

Three German women have certainly been killed, probably shot dead. At the weekend rebels abducted nine foreigners: seven Germans, including three children, a Briton and a South Korean woman. The adults were working for an aid organisation at a hospital in the town of Sa'dah, near the Saudi Arabian border.

Abductions of foreigners are a regular occurrence in northern Yemen, often to force the government to release prisoners. As a general rule, the hostages are not harmed. On Friday, a group of foreign doctors and nurses was released just one day after being abducted.