Cairo - A shootout between the Sudanese military and
kidnappers who seized 19 hostages in Egypt took place Sunday on
Sudan's border with Chad, a Sudanese military spokesman said.
The spokesman was quoted by the Egyptian Middle East News Agency
(MENA) as saying that six of the kidnappers were slain in the clash.
One Sudanese soldier was wounded.
The leader of the kidnappers was first reported killed but was
later described as captured.
The leader of the group was described as Chadian, and a second
captured abductor was Sudanese.
According to the Sudanese spokesman, during the melee the hostages
- 11 foreign tourists and eight Egyptian tour guides - were removed
from the scene by 35 armed men in vehicles who suddenly crossed the
border from Chad.
The 35 men who took the hostages from the scene of the firefight
were believed to be in Tabeh al-Shagara, 30 kilometres inside Chad's
border with Sudan, Sudanese military spokesman Othman Mohamed al-
Aghbash said. None of the hostages were believed to be among the
fatalities from the skirmish.
Reports earlier Sunday quoting the Sudanese Foreign Ministry had
said that Sudanese security forces had located the route of the
kidnapped group and that they might be released within hours.
The 19 hostages include five Germans, five Italians, one Romanian
and eight Egyptians. The desert safari group were taken captive by a
gang of masked men on September 19 in the Gilf Kebir region of
Egypt's Western Desert.
The nationality of the kidnappers is still unknown with reports
saying they could be from Chad or may be Darfur rebels.
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