FED: Ambassador heads to Yemen after conflicting reports

AAP General News (Australia)
01-01-1999
FED: Ambassador heads to Yemen after conflicting reports

A top-level Australian diplomat is heading to Yemen to investigate the tragic rescue of 16
Western hostages which left a Sydney man and three Britons dead.

Following conflicting reports of the incident, Foreign Affairs Minister ALEXANDER DOWNER
yesterday asked Australia's ambassador to Saudi Arabia GEORGE ATKIN to end his holiday and go
to Yemen.

35-year-old Australian ANDREW COLIN THIRSK, 35, was killed when Yemeni security forces
raided the hideout of Islamic militants who were …