The five German hostages including a top former diplomat will be released in hours after a deal was reached, a German report said on Friday.

The Yemeni government and tribal mediators reached an agreement with tribesmen that five German tourists will be released in hours, the German news agency DPA reported on Friday.

Former deputy German foreign minister Juergen Chrobog, who just retired last April, his wife and three sons were abducted at gunpoint in eastern Yemen earlier this week.

The DPA report from Sanaa quoted Yemeni sources as saying that the hostages will be freed soon and the government will arrest five men from a rival tribe involved in running a vendetta with the kidnappers' al-Abduallah tribe.

"All leaders of the al-Abdallah tribe signed the agreement. And hectic efforts are on now to convince a few young men to accept it," a Yemeni official said.

"Tribal chieftains are now in talks with those men to abide by the agreement and let the hostages go," the official added.

(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2005)