Egypt: Kidnapped Tourists Released

No Comments | October 1st, 2008 | Trackback

Eleven European tourists and eight Egyptian guides escaped from their 10-day kidnapping ordeal in southwestern Egypt and Sudan when their captors packed them in one vehicle and ordered them to go. They had been on a safari to Gilf al-Kebir, an area known for prehistoric cave paintings, when some 40 heavily armed men arrived in SUVs and robbed them. The kidnappers then took them across the border into Sudan and moved them from place to place before releasing them 10 days later after receiving word by satellite phone that eight of their gang had encountered Sudanese troops when sent to get fuel and food. Six were killed in a gunbattle and the other two were captured. The hostages then drove more than 200 miles across the desert to the Egyptian border. Only one had been mistreated during the ordeal: an Egyptian policeman accompanying the party was kicked in the face. The kidnappers were believed to be Sudanese or Chadian tribesmen.