Five Italian tourists remained in the hands of their kidnappers in Yemen on Monday amid apparently conflicting reports on the state of negotiations for their release, according to the Italian news Agency ANSA.

Yemeni media sources said national authorities had reached an accord with the kidnappers for the release of the three women and two men who were abducted on Sunday in the northern Marib province.

But almost simultaneously the kidnappers were reported by Western media as threatening to kill their Italian hostages if they came under attack from the Yemeni military.

According to Yemen's prime minister, Abdel Qader Bajammal, national security forces have surrounded the kidnappers, who have been demanding the release of eight members of their tribe, currently in jail for murder.

"We will not negotiate with the kidnappers, we will not be indulgent and will exercise all types of pressure on them in order to have the hostages released peacefully," he said.

The tourists and their captors are believed to be holed up in a mountain village some 100 miles from the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Italy's ambassador in Sanaa, Mario Boffo, said after conversations with Yemeni authorities that the security forces had no intention of attacking the kidnappers.

"The possibility of a raid has not been even raised," he said, adding that the captives were "in good health" and being "treated well, with dignity".

The five tourists were abducted on New Year's Day as they visited archaeological sights in Serwah, some 120 miles north of the capital.

Source: Xinhua