Eleven European tourists kidnapped by armed bandits while on a desert safari in southern ten days ago were today freed unharmed along with their drivers and guides.

The group – five Italians, five Germans and a Romanian, as well as eight Egyptians – were abducted on September 19 and taken over the border into Sudan. Delicate negotiations for their release had appeared to be under threat yesterday after six of the hostage-takers were killed in a clash with Sudanese forces.

The kidnappers had demanded that Germany take charge of a $8.8 million ransom to be handed over to the German wife of the tour organiser, who was one of those snatched. It is not clear whether any ransom was paid.

Security officials said that the 19 were being flown back to Cairo's Al-Maza military airport aboard a military aircraft. "They’ll be here within two hours," said Omayma el-Huseini, a spokeswoman for the Egyptian tourism ministry.

Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, confirmed the release, telling Sky Italia that"Our compatriots are free, and they are with Egyptian forces."

Earlier, an Egyptian security official said that the kidnappers had agreed to let their captives go in return for a ransom in a deal hammered out before yesterday's shootout, in which six of the bandits were killed and two arrested. After that, according to Sudanese officials, the hostages were taken to a new hideout in Chad.

"The problem was solved. They had agreed to the ransom. It was merely a matter of receiving the hostages, but then this surprise happened," the official said.

Egypt’s independent Al-Masry Al-Yom newspaper today quoted a German negotiator as saying the release had been delayed because the kidnappers were seeking assurances they would not be arrested.

The negotiator added that the bandits had said they would release five women hostages after payment of the ransom and hold on to the rest until they secured an escape route, the paper said.

After they were kidnapped, the group was first moved across the border to Sudan to the remote mountain region of Jebel Uweinat, a plateau that straddles the borders of Egypt, Libya and Sudan, before the bandits took them into Chad, according to Sudanese officials.

Sudan says the kidnappers belong to a splinter Darfur rebel group, the Sudanese Liberation Army-Unity (SLA-Unity).

Kidnappings of foreigners are extremely rare in Egypt, although in 2001 an armed Egyptian held four German tourists hostage for three days in Luxor, demanding that his estranged wife bring his two sons back from Germany. He freed the hostages unharmed.

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