25 Chinese workers kidnapped in Egypt

PanARMENIAN.Net - Bedouin tribesmen have kidnapped 25 Chinese workers in the north of Egypt's Sinai peninsula, officials say.

The technicians and engineers were on their way to work at a military-owned cement factory in the Lehfen area when gunmen stopped the bus and seized them.

They are being held inside a tent and Bedouin are blocking roads in the area.

The kidnappers are demanding the release of five relatives jailed after the 2004 bomb attack at the Red Sea resort of Taba that killed 31 people.

"We will not release the Chinese until our demand for the release of these sons of Sinai is met," one tribesman said, according to BBC News.

The authorities say talks are going on to try to resolve the issue.

The tribesmen have been involved in a series of confrontations with security forces in recent months.

A gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel has also repeatedly been sabotaged, though the big tourist resorts on Sinai's south coast, including Sharm el-Sheikh, have remained largely secure.