OSLO, Norway - Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere says a UN worker has been released in Yemen after being kidnapped by armed tribesmen two weeks ago.

Stoere says the 34-year-old Norwegian man was freed unharmed earlier Friday. Stoere gave no details about the operation or possible demands, but thanked Yemeni officials for negotiating his release.

The UN worker, who was not identified, was abducted by armed tribesmen in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Jan. 15 and then transferred to the central Marib province.

At the time of the kidnapping a Yemeni official said the abductors had demanded the release of a comrade who was arrested after the bombing of an oil pipelines in Marib.