Egypt hostages reach Cairo aboard military plane

Eleven European tourists and eight Egyptians abducted in a remote desert corner of Egypt have been freed unharmed and half of their kidnappers have been killed, Egyptian officials said on Monday.

The freed hostages arrived in Cairo aboard an Egyptian military plane. They descended the aircraft smiling, some holding bouquets of flowers, to be greeted by Egyptian military officers and government officials along with foreign diplomats.

The 19 were liberated in what Egyptian media called a "rescue and recovery operation", although officials gave scant and contradictory details on how authorities secured the release or how the hostage-takers were killed.

Egypt had said four masked gunmen kidnapped the tourists -- five Germans, five Italians and one Romanian -- and their Egyptian guides and drivers while on a desert safari in a remote border area and then whisked them into Sudan.

The Sudanese army said on Sunday it had killed the leader of the kidnappers and five other gunmen in a gun battle near the Egyptian and Libyan border, but said the hostages were in Chad under the protection of 30 gunmen.

One security official said the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of 6 million euros ($8.78 million).