Kidnapped British tourists are freed in Egypt

TWO British tourists kidnapped in Egypt have been freed, according to a local official.

The two had reportedly been driving from Cairo to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh when they were kidnapped in southern Sinai.

An Egyptian military intelligence official said the Britons were safe and in a security building in Ras Sidr 
in southern Sinai.

The official said the couple, who were believed to have been kidnapped at gunpoint, were freed after police promised Bedouin tribesmen they would release a detained relative who had been arrested and accused of smuggling weapons from Libya to Egypt. The Britons were almost certainly on an independent holiday trip.

The Foreign Office advises against all travel to northern Sinai and advises against all but essential travel in southern Sinai except for the tourist areas.