SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt — Two American tourists kidnapped Friday in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula were freed and are “in good health,” Egypt’s tourism minister said.
Their release was first announced by Egyptian security officials and later confirmed by the US State Department.
A State Department spokesman said he could not yet reveal the tourists’ names or confirm any details surrounding their release.
“We certainly do appreciate the Egyptian authorities’ efforts regarding their release,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said.
PHOTOS: VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN EGYPT AFTER SOCCER RIOT
Bedouin gunmen held up the tourists’ bus and stole watches, cell phones and cash before kidnapping the two American women and their local guide. The three were held for several hours before being released.
After their release, the group arrived back at their hotel in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh, where they were met by South Sinai’s governor and security chief, officials told AFP.
Egyptian Tourism Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour said he had spoken to the three and said they were “in good health” and that they “had not been mistreated.”
The Americans, who were aged 60 and 65, were traveling back from St. Catherine’s Monastery, at the foot of Mount Sinai, to Sharm El Sheikh when the ambush occurred, FOX News Channel reported.
Three other tourists were traveling with the group but were not taken.
Bedouin sources told AFP the kidnappers were demanding the release of relatives held in Egyptian jails. South Sinai security chiefs, in coordination with Bedouin elders, were earlier in talks with the kidnappers to secure the release of the hostages.
The kidnapping took place just days after Bedouins in north Sinai briefly seized 25 Chinese workers to demand the release of Islamist relatives detained over bombings in the peninsula between 2004 and 2006.
A French tourist was killed during a shooting in Sharm el Sheikh last weekend, raising concerns over security in the popular resort area.
Sinai is home to Egypt’s mostly poor and disaffected Bedouin population. The region’s security has deteriorated since the revolution that swept Hosni Mubarak from power last year.
A group of American citizens have sought refuge at the US embassy in Cairo in the midst of an Egyptian government crackdown against American democracy and rights organizations. Sam LaHood, the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, is among those told they cannot leave the country.
Last November, three young Americans were held briefly in Cairo on suspicion of throwing Molotov cocktails at security forces during demonstrations.
Friday’s incident comes amid a time of unrest in post-revolution Egypt as three people were killed and more than 1,000 injured during fresh clashes on the streets of Egypt as public anger mounted Friday following the deaths of 71 people at a soccer game in the north of the country this week.
Two demonstrators were killed in the port of Suez while a third died in the capital Cairo, where violence erupted outside the interior ministry headquarters, Sky News reported.
Riot police traded tear gas with rocks thrown by protesters, who blame the country’s ruling military for failing to halt a deadly stampede at a stadium in Port Said on Wednesday following the game between home team Al Masry and Cairo’s Al Ahly.
The deaths of 71 people in the violence — initially reported as 74 — sparked outrage across the country.
Thousands of people had gathered in Cairo from Thursday evening, many demanding justice for the “martyrs” who lost their lives and demanding that military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi step down.
Barbed wire barriers were torn down and fires lit as confrontations with police developed.
The interior ministry said the injury toll in clashes since Thursday had reached more than 1,400, AFP reported Friday.
In nearby Tahrir Square, hundreds gathered for noon prayers, waving flags and chanting slogans against the ruling military council that took power when veteran president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February last year.
After the prayers, marchers set off from mosques around the capital and headed to the parliament, a few blocks away from the square.