14 tourists kidnapped in Egypt

GROUP SNATCHED: Masked bandits have snatched 14 tourists in Egypt. (AFP)

Masked bandits have kidnapped a group of 14 foreign tourists and Egyptians who were on an expedition in a remote corner of the Sahara desert in southwestern Egypt, officials said on Monday.

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

It said 14 people were snatched, including five Germans, four Italians, four Egyptians and a Romanian.

The group was kidnapped from near Gilf El-Kabir close to the Libyan border by four Egyptians wearing masks, Mustapha Tawfiq, chief of police in the southern city of Aswan, told state television.

He said he had no more details because of the remoteness of the location.

There were conflicting reports about when the attack took place and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

A tourist guide in southern Egypt told newswire AFP the group was travelling in three or four off-road vehicles near Gilf El-Kabir. A security official said the group's permit to visit the restricted area started on Sept. 16.

In Rome, the foreign ministry said five Italians were among those kidnapped.

"Foreign Minister Franco Frattini... is following the matter of the kidnapping in Egypt of a group of foreigners including five Italians," the ministry said in a statement.

Frattini, who was informed of the kidnapping while en route to the United States, is in "close contact" with a crisis unit set up at the foreign ministry and other foreign ministries involved, the statement said.

Israel denied that any of its nationals were among those snatched.

"According to our sources, there were no Israelis," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP.

Earlier this month, Israel warned its citizens of a "very high" risk of kidnapping or attacks if they travel to Jordan or Egypt, the only two Arab countries which have made peace with the Jewish state.

The warning came just weeks before Jewish New Year holiday, which is marked this year on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, when thousands of Israelis usually flock to Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

Egypt has witnessed a number of deadly attacks in recent years targeting foreigners at major tourist sites which have been blamed on Al-Qaeda and other Islamist militants.

The most recent attacks occurred between 2004 and 2006 in popular Red Sea resorts in the Sinai.

In April 2006, 20 people were killed in bomb blasts in Dahab, 70 were killed in Sharm El-Sheikh in July 2005 and 34 people were killed in Taba in October 2004.

In November 1997, 62 people - among them 58 foreign visitors - were killed in an attack on a popular tourist site in the southern Nile resort of Luxor. The attack was claimed by the Islamist group Jammaa Islamiyya.

More and more foreign visitors are visiting the remote southwest of Egypt near its borders with Sudan and Libya to see priceless rock art preserved for millennia in one of the most-isolated reaches of the Sahara.

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