Saharan Kidnapping Tourists Released

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, August 19, 2003

Saharan Kidnapping Tourists Released

Fourteen European tourists disappearing earlier this year in Sahara were freed Monday by their kidnappers, the German government confirmed.

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Fourteen European tourists disappearing earlier this year in Sahara were freed Monday by their kidnappers, the German government confirmed.

The tourists, including nine Germans, were handed over by a militant Islamic group to the Mali authorities, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said.

Juergen Chrobog, a state secretary of the German Foreign Ministry, has already flown to Bamako, the capital of Mali, to greet the tourists who will later fly back to Cologne on board a German air force plane.

Altogether 32 European tourists were kidnapped in February and March in the Algerian part of Sahara. 17 of them were released in May in Algeria and one hostage, a 46-year-old German woman, died in June in the hands of kidnappers.

For the rescue of remaining 14 tourists, who were later smuggled to Mali, the kidnappers demanded 4.6 million euros (5.2 million USD)for each person. But the German government denied to have paid any ransom.

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