US tourists, guide seized in Egypt's Sinai 'freed'

Masked gunmen had held up the tourists' bus as it left the historic monastery of St Catherine in Sinai. By Marwan Naamani (AFP/File)

CAIRO (AFP) - Two American women and their Egyptian tour guide captured by armed Bedouins in the Sinai peninsula on Friday have been released unharmed after several hours, security officials said.

Masked gunmen had held up the tourists' bus at Wadi al-Soal in south Sinai as it left the historic monastery of St Catherine en route to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.