Egypt: Kidnapped Tourists · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

A group of 15 foreign tourists, including five Italians, were kidnapped on Monday in southern Egypt.
The Arabist wrote here:
Up to 15 people, including 11 foreign tourists, have been abducted in Egypt, according to the Italian foreign ministry and Egyptian security sources.
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Although it’s easy to jump to conclusions when the Israeli government recently issued a warning that Israeli tourists were being targeted for kidnappings in Sinai, this is very far away from Sinai and may simply be a criminal gang, considering they’re asking for ransom. Of course that does not rule out the possibility that some violent political group (Islamist or otherwise) is trying to fundraise through kidnappings, which would mark the return of organized militant political violence in Upper Egypt. But I personally doubt it, but this kind of criminal activity is bad news for Egypt and a sign that more attention should be paid to the porous border with Sudan.
Donkeys, Elephants & Crocs also wrote about the same incident here:
An Egyptian government official said the kidnapping took place at a remote location near the Sudanese-Egyptian border south of Aswan. He too said that details remained sketchy. “We don't know yet who did this and we don't know the whereabouts of the tourists,” he said.
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There has been virtually no violence against tourists in the Nile valley and southern Egypt since an uprising by Islamist militants during the mid-1990s was put down by the government of President Hosni Mubarak.
The last major attack on foreign tourists in the Nile Valley took place in 1997 when 58 were killed by militants in the ancient temple city of Luxor, just north of Aswan.There has been virtually no violence against tourists in the Nile valley and southern Egypt since an uprising by Islamist militants during the mid-1990s was put down by the government of President Hosni Mubarak.
The last major attack on foreign tourists in the Nile Valley took place in 1997 when 58 were killed by militants in the ancient temple city of Luxor, just north of Aswan.
And finally, Zeinobia has another opinion here, as she believes this is not the fist time an incident like this happens in the same location.
The group was abducted at the Gilf el Kebir area where the English Patient film was shot.
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It tuned out that it is the not first time that something like this happens in the same region of Karkur Talha according to the locals who spoke to Al Jazeera , two similar incidents took place last year and they ended by giving ransoms to the abductors !! We did not know about this before why ?? Where is the security ??
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There is no news about whether the ransom was paid or not.
Till now the identity of the abductors despite the speculations that they can be from the tribes in the region .