A Yemeni security official says six other missing foreigners, including three children, have been found dead, bringing the total number to nine.

The nine foreigners, including seven German nationals, a Briton and a South Korean, disappeared last week while on a picnic in the restive northern Saada region of Yemen.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, announced the discovery of the remaining six bodies Monday after three others were found earlier in the day.

Yemen, the poorest nation in the Middle East, is home to restive tribes, a Shiite rebellion, as well as a division of al-Qaida which operates in its remote regions and has often targeted foreigners.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SAN'A, Yemen (AP) _ Three German women abducted in a group of foreigners last week in Yemen were found dead early Monday, their bodies mutilated, a Yemeni security official said.

Shepherds roaming the area found the women's remains in the mountainous northern Saada province near the town of el-Nashour, known as a hideout for al-Qaida militants, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

The three women were among a group of nine foreigners, including seven Germans, abducted Friday in the remote area. The Interior Ministry said the foreigners, who were not identified by name, were kidnapped while on a picnic north of the capital, San'a.

In Berlin, the Foreign Ministry said it could not confirm the reports that the Germans had been killed. A spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said that a ministry crisis team and the German embassy in San'a were working together to try and get more details.

Yemeni authorities said the group included a German doctor, his wife and their three children, as well as a Briton and his South Korean wife and two other German nationals. They were all working in a hospital in Saada, the state news agency said.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry identified their national by her family name, Eom, and said she is a 34-year-old aid worker in Yemen.

The killing of hostages is not common in Yemen, where tribesmen often kidnap foreigners to press the government on a range of demands, including a ransom, but usually release them unharmed.

A tribal leader in the area, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason as the security official, blamed al-Qaida for the Friday abduction and the killing.

In March, four South Korean tourists in Yemen died in an apparent suicide bombing blamed on al-Qaida.

Earlier, the Yemeni government had accused a local Saada rebel group, led by Abdel Malak al-Hawthi, but the group issued a statement saying it has not been involved in any abductions of foreigners.

Thousands of people have been killed in Saada, which lies near the border with Saudi Arabia, since a Shiite rebellion erupted there in June 2004. The rebels say the government is corrupt and too closely allied with the West. The rebels negotiated a fragile cease-fire with the government last year, but serious tension remains

Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, had long been a haven for Islamic militants and was the scene of the October 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors.

Yemen is also the Arab world's poorest nation _ and one of its most unstable _ making it fertile territory for al-Qaida to set up camp.