AFP - The governor of Yemen's Sanaa province on Sunday denied tribal claims that Al-Qaeda has taken charge of a Japanese engineer kidnapped near the capital a week ago.

"Reports that Al-Qaeda have seized the hostage and removed him to another province are unfounded," the defence ministry's website quoted Numan Duid as saying.

The man, identified by Japanese media as 63-year-old Takeo Mashimo, was kidnapped on November 15 in Arhab, northeast of Sanaa, by tribesmen seeking to exchange him for one of their relatives being held by police.

An Saturday a tribal source said Al-Qaeda gunmen had seized the engineer and taken him to an unknown destination in the Maarib region east of Sanaa.

But Duid said: "The provincial authorities know where the Japanese hostage is being held and efforts are underway to arrange his release." There are "positive signs," he added.

"Reports that Al-Qaeda has taken him are part of a bid by the kidnappers to step up pressure on the authorities to accept their demands," he said.

The 22-year-old man whose release is being sought by the tribesmen was imprisoned by US forces for a year in Iraq, according to a source in Yemen.

Yemeni tribes habitually kidnap foreigners to put pressure on local authorities. More than 200 foreigners have been seized during the past 15 years, with most being freed unharmed.

But five Germans and a Briton who were taken captive in June in the north of the country are still missing and with no word on their fate.

They were among nine people seized in the northern Saada region, the stronghold of Shiite rebels at war with the Sanaa government. The three others in the group -- two Germans and a South Korean -- were killed.