US Tourists Abducted in Sinai

Two American tourists have been kidnapped in the Sinai in Egypt, security sources have said.

They appear to have been taken by members of a local tribe in response to the arrest of an alleged drug dealer.

Local tribes’ people have already been speaking to journalists and calling for the release of the alleged drug dealer as well as making other demands.

The tourists were stopped by gunmen as they were travelling from the resort of Dahab up the coast, closer to Israel.

The Sinai Peninsula has become increasingly lawless since the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime last year, the BBC Cairo correspondent Jon Leyne says.

A number of tourists and other foreigners have been kidnapped. They are usually released fairly quickly.

Until now the coastal strip, which is where the main resorts are, was thought to be safe. So this is bound to be a new blow to Egypt’s already faltering tourist industry.