DUSHANBE, October 31, 2014, Asia-Plus – Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that Tajik doctor has gone missing in central Yemen, and local media reports say she may have been abducted by tribal militants.

Gulrukhsor Rofiyeva, who works for Russian medical company Zdravexport in the city of Marib, has been missing since the morning of October 29.

Abductions are common in Yemen, where hostages often are used by disgruntled tribesmen to press demands on authorities.

But Zdravexport employee Anvar Shamsiddinov says it is against local culture and traditions to abduct a female.

He expressed hope that Rofiyeva was taken to a remote settlement to provide medical assistance.

Manouchehr Avdiyev, another Zdravexport employee in Yemen, told RFE/RL on October 30 that nobody had claimed responsibility for Rofiyeva''s disappearance.

In 2011, doctors from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were abducted by tribal militants in central Yemen to protest air strikes against Al Qaeda militants.