# Egyptian security: 3 Koreans kidnapped in Sinai



## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

Egyptian security chief for the Sinai Peninsula Major-General Mohammed Naguib announced on Friday that armed tribesmen had kidnapped three Korean tourists and their Egyptian guide.
According to Naguib, tribesmen stopped a tourist bus and took the four hostage, leaving several other tourists behind.
The incident is the latest in a string of kidnappings this month. Tribesmen occasionally abduct tourists to use as bargaining chips in negotiations with the government for the release of imprisoned colleagues. Tourists are rarely harmed in such cases.
On Thursday, tribesmen briefly kidnapped 18 Egyptian security guards to protest the recent killing of one of their clan. And two American women who were briefly abducted last week with their Egyptian guide said afterward that their captors had served them tea and dried fruit.

Egyptian security: 3 Koreans kidnapped in Sinai - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online


----------



## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

According to state sources the three Koreans have been released.


----------



## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

hhaddad said:


> According to state sources the three Koreans have been released.


This apparently is not true according to Al Ahram

The three kidnapped Korean tourists and their guide have not yet been released, despite media reports


MENA, Saturday 11 Feb 2012​ 
An official source in South Sinai has denied media reports that the three Korean tourists kidnapped on Friday and their tour guide have been released. The three Korean tourists and their Egyptian guide were kidnapped from the city of Saint Catherine in Egypt's desert peninsula that borders with Israel.
Officials confirm on Saturday that negotiations are still ongoing between military, governorate officials and the tribesmen of South Sinai.
The kidnappers are bargaining to release one of their fellow tribesmen from prison. He was arrested under the pretext of being involved in the Credit Agricole bank robbery in Sharm El-Sheikh, however the kidnappers assert his innocence. 
Egyptian security chief for the Sinai Peninsula Major-General Mohammed Naguib announced the kidnapping on Friday.
According to Naguib, armed tribesmen stopped a tourist bus and took the four hostages, leaving several other tourists behind.
The incident is the latest in a string of kidnappings this month. Tribesmen have abducted tourists to use as bargaining chips in negotiations with the government for the release of imprisoned relatives or friends.
Tourists are rarely harmed in such cases. Two American women briefly abducted last week with their Egyptian guide said later that they were not harmed and that their captors had served them tea and dried fruit.


Official sources deny Korean kidnapped tourists have been released - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online


----------



## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

*South Korea on high alert over the kidnapping of its citizens in Egypt*

The South Korean ambassador to Egypt arrived in Sinai on Saturday to follow up the case of three South Koreans kidnapped there on Friday, according to Egypt's Youm7 news website.
The website said the ambassador was notified of the kidnapping by the Egyptian authorities, who are working to release the two tourists and their two tour guides — one Korean and one Egyptian.
Sinai has seen a surge in lawlessness over the past year as armed tribesmen and Islamist militants have asserted their power and clashed with security forces.
Last week, two American female tourists were briefly kidnapped in Sinai by armed tribesmen.
Tribesmen occasionally abduct tourists to use in negotiations with the government over the release of imprisoned tribe members. Tourists are rarely harmed.
The two Americans said afterward that their captors were polite and served them tea and dried fruit.
Major General Mohammed Naguib, security chief of South Sinai Governorate, said on Friday that the Koreans' captors seek the release of Salim Oda, who was arrested Thursday morning after a failed attempt to rob a bank in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
South Korean officials said on Saturday that the country’s foreign ministry will exert its best efforts to secure the release of its citizens, Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
"The South Korean Embassy in Egypt launched an on-site emergency team to handle the issue immediately after recognizing the kidnapping and requested the country's foreign ministry and police take all possible measures, including a quick and fair investigation, necessary to secure the safety of the kidnapped Korean nationals," Yonhap quoted a Korean official as saying.
The agency added that officials in South Korea called for an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss how to deal with the incident and how to protect South Korean nationals in Egypt from further kidnappings.
The ministry is considering raising its alert level on travel to Egypt from its current level of two to three — just one level short of a full travel ban, Yonhap reported.


South Korea on high alert over the kidnapping of its citizens in Egypt | Egypt Independent


----------



## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

The release of the South Korean tourists kidnapped in Egypt's Sinai was negotiated by clan elders and released in exchange for a prisoner


AP, Sunday 12 Feb 2012​ 

Three South Korean women were freed on Saturday a day after they were kidnapped by armed tribesmen in Egypt's Sinai peninsula when clan elders negotiated their release, a security official said.
The head of security in South Sinai Maj. Gen. Mohammed Naguib said that the three women and their Egyptian tour guide were kidnapped on Friday by tribesmen wanting to pressure Egyptian authorities to release their detained relatives.
Naguib said tourists were abducted around 20 miles (30 kilometres) from the sixth-century St. Catherine's Monastery, close to where two Americans were taken last week.
In both incidents, tribesmen took some of the passengers from a tour vehicle while leaving others behind.
Naguib said security officials and tribal elders negotiated their release with the captor, Ali Dikheil, who he said was imprisoned for drug and weapons crimes but broke out during the popular uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, 2011.
It was the latest in a series of kidnappings in Sinai. The peninsula has seen a surge in lawlessness over the last year, but abducted tourists are rarely harmed.
Two American women kidnapped last week said afterward that their captors served them tea and dried fruit.
on Saturday an official source in South Sinai has denied media reports that the three Korean tourists kidnapped on Friday and their tour guide have been released.


----------

