Iranian government Saturday denied reports claiming that a decapitated body found in Yemen was of an Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped last July.
"Yemeni officials confirm that an unknown body has been found in Yemen's Maarib region, but they denied its connection to Mr. Nour Ahmad Nikbakht," Xinhua quoted an Iranian foreign ministry official as saying in a statement.
The kidnapped Iranian diplomat is reportedly alive, the Iranian official said, adding that the Islamic republic was seriously following up on the issue.
Later in the day, the Al Qaeda group in Yemen said in a statement that it killed an Iranian diplomat whom they had kidnapped last July in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen.
