Gunmen kidnap Sadat's grand-niece

Gunmen briefly abducted the 12-year-old grand-niece of the late Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat, security officials said today.

The girl was kidnapped on her way to school and held for nearly 24 hours.

She was released after her father paid a ransom of 5 million Egyptian pounds (€590,000), according to the officials.

They said the kidnappers were in two cars and drove the girl through three Nile Delta provinces north of the Egyptian capital before they released her on the desert road from Cairo to the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

Mr Sadat was assassinated in 1981. The girl’s father is Mr Sadat’s nephew, Effat Sadat.