Five British embassy hostages kidnapped in Ethiopia released

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said on Tuesday that five British embassy hostages kidnapped in Ethiopia have been released.

The three British men, an Anglo-Italian and a French woman - all British diplomats were released earlier Tuesday in neighboring Eritrea, and they were all in "good health" and are currently undergoing medical checks, Beckett said in a statement.

The group were kidnapped by a gang of more than 30 armed men at 2:00 a.m. (1100 GMT) on March 1 when they were on a tourist trip to visit geological sites in the remote Afar region, in the north of Ethiopia.

According to the Sky News, two vehicles belonging to the group were later found abandoned in the north-eastern village of Hamedali. And their vehicles - a Toyota Land Cruiser and a Land Rover Discovery - were riddled with bullets, but still contained luggage and mobile phones.

Ethiopian authorities have intensified their investigation of the kidnapping ever since.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Monday that his officials had a "good idea" of where the hostages were being held.

He said the embassy staff had not been specifically targeted and suggested that their seizure might have been a "mistake" by their captors.

Source: Xinhua