The 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians taken hostage in a remote border area of Egypt more than a week ago have been released and are in good health, state-run Egyptian television said on Monday.
The hostages were on their way back to Cairo, the state television reported, quoting an unidentified official source.
Egypt had said four masked gunmen kidnapped the tourists -- five Germans, five Italians and one Romanian -- and their Egyptian guides and drivers while on a desert safari in a remote border area and then moved them into Sudan. According to Reuters, the Sudanese army said on Sunday it had killed the leader of the kidnappers and five other gunmen in a gun battle near the Egyptian and Libyan border, but said the hostages were in Chad under the protection of 30 gunmen.
