French president calls for release of hostage in Yemen "as soon as possible"

French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday called for the immediate liberation of a French woman kidnapped earlier in the day in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen.

At a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Paris, Hollande said a 30-year-old worker at the World Bank "was kidnapped in front of a ministry in Yemen."

"We ask for her to be released as soon as possible, we are trying to locate her and will do all we can for her to be freed," he added.

According to the Yemeni interior ministry, gunmen intercepted the vehicle transporting the woman in central Sana'a on Tuesday morning and kidnapped the French expatriate along with her driver.

In a statement, the foreign ministry "insistently" called on French nationals to leave Yemen as soon as possible following the deteriorating security situation in the country.

Earlier this month, France announced the closure of its embassy in Sana'a and evacuated its diplomatic staff due to security concerns after the Shi'ite Houthi group, also known as Ansarullah, based in the far northern province of Saada, took over control of Sana'a last September amid deadly clashes with government forces.

Yemen has seen persistent unrest since 2011 when mass protests forced former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, which created a power vacuum that benefits Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the most active terrorist groups in the Middle East. Endit