In last month’s Globetrotter
e-news, we spoke of 31 tourists being abducted and held in
the Sahara for over 2 months. In May, 17 of the foreign
tourists (10 Austrians, 6 Germans and a Swede) were
rescued, said to be unharmed and flown back to Europe. No
formal details of the ordeal have been released for fear of
jeopardising the safety of the remaining 15 tourists (10
Germans, 4 Swiss, 1 Dutch) who are still missing. The
Algerian newspaper El Watan claims that nine kidnappers
were killed in the dawn raid near the Sahara desert town of
Tamanrasset, 1,900 kilometres (1,200 miles) south of
Algiers and that the Salafist Group had kidnapped the
tourists for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).