Tourists killed in Ethiopia attack

Tourists killed in Ethiopia attack

Four people, including two foreign tourists, have been kidnapped by gunmen who also killed five foreigners in Ethiopia's Afar region.

A government spokesman, Bereket Simon said "The attack occurred at 5am local time on Tuesday, in which Eritrean-trained groups also kidnapped four. Two of them are foreigners; one is a driver and the other a policeman."

Ethiopia's foreign ministry however, said it didn't have any further details about the attack or the victims' nationalities.

Ethiopian state television (ETV), which first reported the killings, also suggested that the attackers were rebels with ties to Ethiopia's archrival Eritrea, which hosts the exiled Oromo Liberation Front, a rebel group listed as a terrorist organisation by the Ethiopian government.

ETV said two tourists were injured severely and were brought to a health clinic by defence forces.

It said they are in critical condition. Another tourist survived the attack unharmed.
Eritrea has rejected the accusation that it trained and armed the gunmen responsible for the attack in remote north-eastern Afar region bordering Eritrea.

European group

In Berlin, a spokesman at the German foreign ministry, said it has received "reports of an attack on a tour group with Germans in Ethiopia" and that the ministry was trying to determine what had happened.

In Vienna, a spokesman at the Austrian foreign ministry said as many as 22 tourists of several European nationalities may have been attacked, including two Austrians.

Germany's Bilddaily, quoting security officials in Berlin reported on Tuesday, that at least one German and one Austrian were among those killed.

In 2007, five Europeans,four Britons and a French citizen, were taken hostage and released unharmed, in exchange for a ransom.

Aljazeera/Adekusibe/Cokey