- Title: AUSTRIA: Austria says it has a new message from the kidnappers of two tourists
- Date: 12th March 2008
- Summary: (EU) VIENNA, AUSTRIA (MARCH 10, 2008) (REUTERS) NEWS CONFERENCE BEGINNING (SOUNDBITE) (German) PETER LAUNSKY, FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON, SAYING: "Our ambassador in Kuwait, who is also in charge for Qatar, has been in contact with the General-Director of Al Jazeera about this and has asked to view the tape in question. We are now in the process of getting the tape." MAP OF AFRICA ON THE SCREEN OF LAPTOP COMPUTER ON THE PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (German) PETER LAUNSKY, FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON, SAYING: "Firstly, we were able to verify the passport numbers and our colleague Mr. Gollia will elaborate in detail later. Secondly, we have contacted the government in Algeria and Tunisia yesterday and today and have asked them both to refrain from taking any military action at this stage." JOURNALISTS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS JOURNALIST IN NEWS CONFERENCE ASKING: "Have the passport numbers have been verified and found to belonging to those two Austrians?" (SOUNDBITE) (German) RUDOLF GOLLIA, INTERIOR MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON, SAYING: "The passport numbers were found to be consistent with those of the two Austrians. But of course we do not know where that data actually came from and how the senders of the posted message obtained this information. There are of course many ways and means to obtain this passport data." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) RUDOLF GOLLIA, INTERIOR MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON, SAYING: "There was an announcement in the first message by the alleged abductors, hostage takers that they were going to follow up that message, by a message indicating what kind of demands they may be posting on that specific case, but those demands haven't reached us." MAP OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT PROJECTED AT SCREEN
- Embargoed: 27th March 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Austria
- Country: Austria
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA2CKN79XEOQ1PWO86GDQYKT4JK
- Story Text: Officials say Austria has received a new message from the apparent kidnappers of two tourists whose abduction in Tunisia was claimed by al Qaeda.
Austria was examining a new message on Tuesday (March 11) from the apparent kidnappers of two tourists whose abduction in north Africa was claimed by al Qaeda.
Foreign ministry spokesman Peter Launsky told a news conference the message on a Web site overnight included correct passport data for the couple, tax consultant Wolfgang Ebner, 51 and his companion, Andrea Kloiber, 43.
"Firstly, we were able to verify the passport numbers and our colleague Mr. Gollia will elaborate in detail later. Secondly, we have contacted the government in Algeria and Tunisia yesterday and today and have asked them both to refrain from taking any military action at this stage," he said, saying that the message threatened consequences in the case of military action.
The spokesmen did not say where the passport details had been published and did not give further details.
"The passport numbers were found to be consistent with those of the two Austrians. But of course we do not know where that data actually came from and how the senders of the posted message obtained this information.
There are of course many ways and means to obtain this passport data,"
Interior ministry spokesman Rudolf Gollia said.
A government crisis team was focused on checking the identities of the couple, whose names were given in a tape released by al Jazeera television on Monday (March 10).
A man who identified himself as Salah Abou-Mohammad -- a spokesman for al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb -- said on the tape the group would soon announce its terms for the release of the hostages.
"There was an announcement in the first message by the alleged abductors, hostage takers that they were going to follow up that message, by a message indicating what kind of demands they may be posting on that specific case, but those demands haven't reached us," Gollia said.
A separate al Qaeda statement suggested the group had taken the two across the border into Algeria, al Qaeda's north African base and a vast, mostly-desert country. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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