Austrians moved to Mali
2008-03-11 18:31
Algiers - An al-Qaeda-linked gang that kidnapped two Austrian tourists in Tunisia has taken them across the Sahara to northern Mali, the Arabic daily Annahar reported on its internet site on Tuesday.
"The kidnappers of the two Austrian tourists have managed to get into the Sahel, crossing Algeria and Libya to get back to their rear base in Mali," said Annahar, citing several unnamed Algerian sources.
Annahar, reputed for monitoring the activities of Algerian fundamentalist groups, said earlier that the kidnappers had crossed the Sahara desert border from Tunisia into Algeria and that the army was searching for them.
The paper also reported efforts "to open dialogue and negotiations" to obtain the release of the pair, kidnapped in the Tunisian desert on February 22.
Family alerted authorities
Austrian interior minister Guenther Platter told parliament in Vienna that he had "not yet received any claim", but a spokesperson said authorities planned to send an expert to the region.
A spokesperson for the al-Qaeda branch of the Islamic Maghreb - an Algerian-based fundamentalist group - said it had abducted the pair in Tunisia and warned western tourists to stay away.
Austrian reports have named the missing pair as Wolfgang Ebner, 51, and Andrea Kloiber, 44.
Ebner, an experienced desert traveller, on February 18 phoned his son Bernhard Ebner from Tataouine in southeast Tunisia and was due to call back on February 25, but he never did.
The family then alerted authorities who took the case to Interpol.
- SAPA