Shootout with kidnappers on Sudan-Chad border (Roundup)

Sep 28, 2008, 23:51 GMT

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.