Ordeal over for released European hostages
European hostages freed in Egypt
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Monday, 29, Sep 2008 02:17
Eleven western tourists and eight Egyptians held hostage in Egypt have been released.
The group had been touring the Gilf al-Kebir plateau, some 500 miles southwest of Cairo and a region famed for its cave paintings, when they were kidnapped more than a week ago.
Egypt's state television reported the freed hostages were travelling back to Egypt's capital and were all reported to be in good health.
It follows a shootout yesterday in which all but two of the kidnappers who abducted the tourists were shot and killed by Sudanese forces.
The tourists – including five Germans, five Italians and a Romanian - remained in captivity after the incident on the Chad border and were unharmed. It was not clear yesterday when they would be released as they were believed to be in Chad.
Yesterday the AFP news agency quoted presidential advisor Mahjoub Fadl Badri as saying: "Sudanese forces followed the tracks of the kidnappers from [the] Jebel Uweinat [mountain range on the Sudan-Egypt border] and found them on the Chad border.
"Sudanese forces killed six, including the commander of a Darfur rebel group, and arrested two."
The Foreign Office says over one million Britons visit Egypt each year and stresses that "most visits are trouble-free".