Detained American freed in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen – A freelance American journalist who had been held by insurgents in Yemen since last month has been freed, U.S. officials and news reports said Monday.

News of the release of Casey Coombs, one of several Americans believed to have been detained by the Shiite Muslim rebels known as Houthis, came as a video surfaced of a Frenchwoman who was being held separately in Yemen, tearfully pleading for her freedom.

The State Department confirmed that Coombs had arrived in the Persian Gulf state of Oman. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters in Washington that he was in “stable” condition.

Coombs’ release coincided with deadly new violence in Yemen, an impoverished but strategic state that has been devastated by a Saudi-led air offensive, now in its third month.

A wave of heavy explosions rocked Sanaa, the capital, before dawn and lasted into the evening Monday, killing at least 20 people, Yemen’s Health Ministry said.

Bombardments targeted Houthi positions, including the area around the presidential palace and a base on Mount Nuqum. Casualties were also reported at a school in the southeastern district of Musaik where displaced people had been sheltering.

Meanwhile, a video was posted on YouTube showing the 30-year-old Frenchwoman, Isabelle Prime, who was snatched off the street in Sanaa by unknown abductors in February.