El-Arish: Egyptian intelligence officials say they are negotiating with Bedouin gunmen to free two tourists kidnapped along a main road in Egypt`s southern Sinai Peninsula.
The intelligence officials said today that a Bedouin kidnapper abducted an Israeli man and Norwegian woman to pressure police to release a cousin who is being held for his suspected involvement in the killing of policemen in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya.
It has been a common motive in past abductions. Tourists typically are not held long and are released unharmed. The officials say the tourists, who were abducted yesterday, are being held in a desolate mountainous area called Gabal-Maghara in Sinai.
All officials spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the subject.
PTI
