3 Korean tourists kidnapped in Sinai

Armed tribesmen kidnapped three Korean tourists and their guide from a tour bus in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula yesterday, the region’s security chief said.

It was the latest in a series of kidnappings in Sinai, which has seen a surge in lawlessness over the last year as armed tribes and Islamist militants assert their power.

Major General Mohammed Naguib, the head of security for southern Sinai, said the abductions took place around 20 miles from the sixth-century St Catherine’s Monastery, close to where two American tourists were abducted last week.

In both incidents, tribesmen took some of the passengers from a tour vehicle while leaving others behind.

Maj Gen Naguib said security officials were trying to negotiate a release with the kidnapper Ali Dikheil, who he said was imprisoned for drug and weapons crimes but broke out during the popular uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

Dikheil was seeking the release of Salim Oda, who was arrested after a failed attempt to rob a bank the in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Maj Gen Naguib said.

Tribesmen often abduct tourists to use in negotiations with the government over the release of imprisoned colleagues. The tourists are rarely harmed.

Other tribesmen briefly kidnapped 18 Egyptian security guards on Thursday to protest the killing of one of their clan. After holding negotiations with tribal leaders, the kidnappers freed the guards, one of the security officials said.