Travel / Outdoors

CAIRO, Egypt — Bedouin gunmen stormed a minivan in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Friday, kidnapping two U.S. tourists and an Egyptian tour guide for several hours before releasing them to police, Egyptian security officials said.

Maj. Gen. Gamal el-Ba'ie, director of investigations for the south Sinai area, said Bedouin tribesmen took the hostages in the hopes of pressuring the government into releasing two relatives who had been arrested on suspicion of dealing drugs.

An official in south Sinai, Gamal Abdel Barry, said the relatives were not released and the abductors relented after being told "this was bad for Egypt's image and tourism." He also said no one was arrested.

The tourists' minivan was attacked in the town of St. Catherine, a tourist hub near Mount Sinai, police officials said. Egyptian state media said an unspecified number of gunmen sped up to the minivan in a small pickup truck and a car. The minivan was carrying three other tourists in addition to the Americans, but their nationalities were not given. The Americans were not identified.

The men robbed the passengers of money, watches and cellphones before abducting the two American women and their guide and driving into the mountains, according to state media reports.

The local governor, security director and police officials traveled where the hostages were being held as part of the rapid negotiations that freed the hostages after roughly six hours of captivity, the reports said.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo did not respond to numerous requests for confirmation of the kidnapping or release.

The abduction followed the kidnapping by armed Bedouin tribesmen Tuesday of 25 Chinese factory workers who were taken from a company bus traveling in Sinai.

The gunmen in that case also demanded the release of fellow tribesmen from prison and held the Chinese workers for less than a day before freeing them. It was not clear how Egyptian officials obtained their release.

The disappearance of the U.S. tourists threatened to deal a further blow to Egypt's sputtering tourism industry, among the nation's most important sources of income, which collapsed in the political uncertainty that has followed last year's revolution.

The kidnappings come as a climate of lawlessness is gripping Egypt, especially after a soccer riot Wednesday night left at least 74 people dead.

Protests that erupted since the violence in Port Said have resulted in more bloodshed, with at least three people killed in clashes with police overnight Thursday and Friday.

Material from The Washington Post is included in this report.