Kidnapped tourists 'spotted at military camp'

Five British citizens who were kidnapped in remote north-eastern Ethiopia have been spotted at a military camp across the border in Eritrea, a senior Ethiopian official said today. The claim could not be independently verified.

A herder in the Afar region, where the group was seized on Thursday, saw the group at the Ara-ta camp in Eritrea, according to the official.

Herders in the barren Afar region travel frequently between the two countries, though relations between them have been strained since Eritrea gained its independence from the Addis Ababa government in 1993 following a 30-year guerrilla war.