Freed German Tourists Land in Cologne, Concern for Remaining Hostages

The six German tourists freed from capitvity by an Islamic group in southeastern Algiers arrived in good health at Cologne-Bonn Airport Wednesday evening.

The Germans, four men and two women, were among 17 tourists freed by Algerian security forces early Wednesday morning, almost three months after they disappeared while on an motor trekking trip through the Sahara. Fifteen tourists, among them 10 Germans, four Swiss and a Dutch citizen, remain in the hands of their captors, who Algerian military identified yesterday as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC).

The rescued German tourists kept quiet about their captivity and the way they were rescued. German Foreign Ministry and other government officials have urged the news media to be careful in the way they report the story in order to protect the lives of the remaining tourists.

"We are concentrating all our efforts at ensuring their lives and sound condition," said government spokesman Thomas Steg.

"It was a real hostage-taking"

Austrian Gerhard Wintersteller, one of 10 Austrians freed Wednesday, told German television that he was in a group of four cars when a truck with German plates drove up to them. Thinking they were friendly, the caravan stopped.

"As I stood by the car, eight terrorists suddenly jumped out, held Kalishnikovs in front of our noses and threw us to the ground," Wintersteller said. "It was a real hostage-taking."

He told television that the group was moved from dry river bed to dry river bed "to the point of exhaustion." He confirmed they were Islamic fundamentalists who prayed every day and told their hostages that they wanted to "create an Islamic state in Algeria."

Al Qaeda-linked group behind the kidnappings

The GSPC, which Algerian military officials told reporters was responsible for the kidnappings, is lead by Hassan Hattab, identified by some as a political activist and opposition leader, by the Algerian government as a terrorist.

The Center for Defense Information Terrorism Project in the United States reports that the group split from the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), a government opposition group in 1996. Since then, they are suspected of carrying out recruiting and "other support for al Qaeda operations in Europe."

"By 2000, according to Italian investigators, the GSPC had taken over the GIA's external networks across Europe and North Africa and were moving to establish an 'Islamic International' under the aegis of Osama bin Laden," according to the report of the Washington-based nonprofit.

European law enforcement have broken up a number of cells with ties to GSPC in recent years, according to the report. The U.S. Department of the Treasury included the GSPC group on their list of terrorist organizations in April 2002.

Government officials in the capital of Algiers would not comment on media reports that military special forces engaged the kidnappers in a shootout in which nine of the terrorist group died. German Foreign Ministry spokesmen denied the newspaper accounts.

Slow-moving investigation into disappearance

The Algerian government has been quietly negotiating the tourists' return for more than two weeks now. European government officials have been reported to be frustrated with the initial slow reaction by the Algerian government and the "information deficit" that has emerged in recent weeks.

Government representatives in Germany and the other affected countries have been tight-lipped on news of the tourists' fate, fearing for their safety.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Interior Minister Schily have made trips to the country and offered the help of German special forces.

Algerian officials have preferred to handle the situation on their own. Following the first reports in February that three of the total seven groups of tourists were missing, the government sent soldiers into the Sahara to begin the search. Over the next two months, the four other groups of tourists were reported missing in the area, and the government intensified their search.

More soldiers joined the search, bringing the total number to 5,000, and heat-sensing radar and helicopters combed the 2 million square kilometer (772,200 square mile) region. The BKA, Germany's federal investigation office, sent six agents to Algiers to help the government.

At the beginning of May, government officials confirmed that they had begun negotiations with the kidnappers. Media reports indicated the tourists had been located in the Tamelrik mountain range, some 1,500 kilometers south-east of Algiers.