European hostages freed and in good health

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-29 19:28

CAIRO - All 19 European tourists and Egyptians who were kidnapped by armed bandits in a remote desert region 10 days ago have been freed and are in good health, Egyptian state television said on Monday.

The undated file photo shows sand dunes in Gilf el-Kabir near the Egyptian border with Libya, where a group of European tourists were kidnapped earlier this month. [Agencies]

Their reported release came after an Egyptian security official said kidnappers had agreed to let their captives go in return for a ransom, in a deal hammered out before Sudanese troops killed six hostage-takers.

"The problem was solved. They had agreed to the ransom. It was merely a matter of receiving the hostages, but then this surprise happened," the official said, referring to the shooting.

The location of the hostages was not immediately known.

Sudanese forces on Sunday killed six of the bandits and arrested two in a shootout after spotting them in the Sudan-Egypt-Libya border area. A Sudanese official said the bandits had moved the hostages to a hideout in Chad.

The kidnappers had demanded that Germany take charge of payment of a six-million-euro (8.8-million-dollar) ransom to be handed over to the German wife of the tour organiser, who is among the hostages.

The hostages -- five Germans, five Italians, a Romanian and eight Egyptian drivers and tour guides -- were kidnapped by armed bandits while on safari in a remote area of Egypt's southwestern desert on September 19.

Egypt's independent Al-Masry Al-Yom newspaper had earlier quoted a German negotiator as saying the release had been delayed because the kidnappers were seeking assurances they would not be arrested.

The negotiator said the bandits had agreed to release five women hostages after payment of the ransom, and hold on to the rest until they secured an escape route, the paper said.

The German embassy declined to comment, but a European diplomat close to the negotiations said the circumstances of the shootout on Sunday were still murky.

"We're still trying to establish things. It's not clear what actually happened, we have no facts," he said.

After they were kidnapped on September 19, the group was first moved across the border to Sudan to the remote mountain region of Jebel Uweinat, a plateau that straddles the borders of Egypt, Libya and Sudan, before the bandits took them into Chad, according to Sudanese officials.

Chad's government, however, cast doubt on the claim that the hostages were inside the country.

"We have noticed nothing on Chadian national territory," government spokesman Mahamat Hissene said.

"We are surprised by the announcement ... We are wondering whether it doesn't amount to a media strategy by Sudan to turn public opinion," he said.

Sudan says the kidnappers belong to a splinter Darfur rebel group, the Sudanese Liberation Army-Unity (SLA-Unity). An SLA-Unity spokesman denied his group's involvement, but warned that the hostages might be harmed if force were used against the bandits.