Aswan tourists snatched at gunpoint

Armed bandits have kidnapped 19 people including 11 holiday-makers in southern Egypt, according to the country’s tourism ministry.

Security service sources say the five Germans, five Italians, eight Egyptians and another person thought to be Romanian, were last seen on Sunday in Aswan. They had been preparing for a desert safari.

Egypt’s tourism ministry has said a ransom has been demanded and negotiations are underway to secure the release of the hostages. It later added they had been moved outside the Egyptian border by four kidnappers, who the security services believe may be from Chad or Sudan.

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