The kidnappers of two Austrian tourists missing in North Africa since last month have set an ultimatum for the government in Vienna demanding the release of prisoners, according to an organization that monitors terrorist and extremist websites Thursday. ( dpa )
The terrorist organization al-Qaeda in Maghreb (AQMI) is demanding the release of fellow fighters from prison in North Africa by midnight Sunday, according to the Site Intelligence Group.
The spokesman for the foreign ministry in Vienna, Peter Launsky- Tieffenthal, confirmed Thursday evening that the kidnappers had made contact with the Austrian government.
"But the ultimatum makes demands that lay beyond our reach," he said.
The Austrian government was talking to the appropriate governments in North Africa in its efforts to obtain the release of the two Austrians, the spokesman said.
The tourists Wolfgang Ebner, 51, and Andrea Kloiber, 43, who are from near Salzburg, have been reported as missing since February 18 from southern Tunisia.
AQMI has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and apparently transported the two to Mali.
The Algerian armed forces are searching for the kidnappers in the border area with Tunisia. The Austrians could be in the hands of the regional terrorist leader Yahia Djouadi, known as the "Emir of the Sahara," the newspaper El Kabar reported Wednesday.
The faction holding Ebner and Kloiber was said to be responsible for the killings of eight Algerian police officers at the eastern city of el-Oued on February 3, the Algerian newspaper L'Expression reported Wednesday.
The daily Liberte reported that security forces from Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Austria were working together to attempt to locate and free the two hostages. (SITE on the Internet: www.siteintelgroup.org)