19 tourists kidnapped in Egypt

CAIRO (AFP) - Masked bandits kidnapped a group of 19 foreign tourists and Egyptians at gunpoint as they were on a desert safari in a remote corner of southwestern Egypt, officials said on Monday.

"This is an act of banditry not of terrorism," the tourism ministry said in a statement, adding that those responsible have asked for an undisclosed sum of money as a ransom.

"Four masked gunmen attacked the four cars they were riding and led them towards Sudanese territory at gunpoint," the official news agency MENA quoted an unnamed official as saying. Tourism Minister Zuhair Garana said negotiations were under way to release the group, MENA reported, adding that they were on a safari in Karak Talh near Gilf el-Kabir, a rugged largely uninhabited region near the border with Sudan.

His ministry said those snatched included five Germans, five Italians, four Egyptians and a Romanian, while MENA said the Egyptians were two guides, four drivers, a guard and the tour company owner.

Egyptian sources said the kidnappers had asked for between four and six million dollars in ransom, although it not possible to confirm the sum.

While the kidnappers of foreigners and Egyptians have taken them to an unknown location in Sudan, Tourism Minister Zuhair Garana told AFP on Monday.

"According to the information we have the hostages are in Sudanese territory but we don't know where," Garana told AFP. "The Egyptian government doesn't negotiate but the security services are trying to locate the hostages."