The American organization SITE, which specializes in monitoring radical groups, announced on Saturday that the jihadist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqpa) broadcast a video recording of a UN employee from Bangladesh kidnapped in Yemen in February, writes AFP.

In February, the UN announced that five of its staff, who were returning to Aden after a “field mission”, had been abducted in the southern governorate of Abyan.

In the video, a man who identified himself as Akam Sofyol Anam, identified by SITE as the UN’s “director of security” in Yemen, calls on his employer to meet the jihadist group’s still-unknown demands.

The hostage claims that his life and the lives of his colleagues are in danger, and states that he has serious health problems that require immediate assistance.

The Aqpa group, created in 2009, is considered the most dangerous branch of the jihadist network in the United States. Aqpa took advantage of the chaos caused by the war in Yemen and launched attacks on Houthi rebels and government forces.

Aqpa has also claimed responsibility for attacks in the United States and Europe, such as the deadly 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, but has suffered several defeats in recent years, losing territory and fighters.

The conflict that began in Yemen in 2014 pits government forces, supported by Saudi Arabia in particular, and Houthi rebels, supported by Iran. Armed groups such as al-Qaeda also operate in Yemen.

According to the UN, the war in Yemen has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced people, with two-thirds of the population in need of humanitarian assistance. (Source: Agerpres)