Egypt’s hostages back home amid doubts over raid

A EUROPEAN tour group kidnapped in the Sahara Desert was abruptly freed after a phone call to one of the captors, and all 19 hostages piled into a single car, some clinging to the roof as they drove 200 miles to safety.

The accounts yesterday by the freed Europeans and their Egyptian guides contradicted reports from Egyptian security officials who described a dramatic rescue involving gun battles between Egyptian forces and the hostages, with state news agency quoting the defence minister that half the kidnappers had been killed.

As their captivity dragged into its tenth night, one of their captors received a phone call, the Egyptian drivers said from the hospital.