Kidnappers release Norwegian, Israeli tourists held in Sinai

PanARMENIAN.Net - Kidnappers released a Norwegian woman and an Israeli man held in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula for four days following negotiations led by Bedouin, security sources said, according to Reuters.

The tourists had been kidnapped on Friday, March 22, while driving between the resort towns of Dahab and Taba on the Red Sea coast.

The sources said the kidnappers' aim was to put pressure on the authorities to release two of their relatives held for drug dealing. The police had agreed to review the case.

Security in the Sinai desert region has deteriorated since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak two years ago.

Bedouin kidnappers have captured tourists in the past to push for the release of fellow tribesmen from jail. Earlier this month kidnappers briefly seized the country boss of U.S. oil major ExxonMobil and his wife.

Two American female tourists were kidnapped in Sinai in February last year but Egyptian authorities negotiated their release a few hours later. Two other U.S. tourists were seized in late May that year, and two more U.S. tourists in July. The captives were released within days in both cases.