Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman says the kidnappers of nine Chinese oil workers have killed five of the men, execution-style, the Associated Press reported.
Spokesman Ali Sadiq says two other kidnapped workers managed to flee their abductors, while two still remain in the hands of the kidnappers.
Sadiq told The Associated Press that the killing took place Monday and came "without provocation," even though the kidnappers had threatened to kill the workers if their demands were not met.
The Chinese were kidnapped October 18 in southern Kordofan province - home of much of Sudan's oil industry and adjacent to violence-wracked Darfur.
The government says the kidnappers were members of a Darfur rebel group. The group never said it was behind the
kidnapping.