Secret Squirrel
07-30-2004, 12:44 PM
AMRITSAR, India (AP) -- Villagers in northern India briefly detained 37 foreign tourists, most of them British, to protest the kidnapping of three Indian workers in Iraq, police said Friday.
The tourists, traveling in two buses, were stopped Thursday night near the village of Santoshgarh, the home region of two of the three Indians who are among seven truck drivers, who all work for the same Kuwaiti company, being held hostage by unknown kidnappers in Iraq.
The tourists -- 22 Britons, two South Koreans, a Japanese, an American, a Canadian, two Swiss, two Poles, a Dutch citizen, three Tibetans and two others of unknown nationality -- were returning to New Delhi from the Himalayan town of Dharmsala, said police officer Bimal Gupta.
The villagers blocked the road and the tourists had to stay in the buses until police reached the scene Friday morning, Gupta said. The tourists were then taken to a nearby temple complex and given food.
"They are under police protection. They will be leaving the village soon," Gupta said.
But a journalist at the scene told The Associated Press that hundreds of villagers had surrounded the temple, and that authorities were bringing in more police to prevent any outbreak of violence.
The area is about 185 miles northwest of New Delhi.
A video broadcast on Indian TV Thursday night showed one of the drivers with a kidnapper pointing a gun to his head. The kidnappers said Thursday they would kill one of the hostages in 24 hours if the Kuwaiti company doesn't stop its work in Iraq.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/07/30/india.tourists.ap/index.html
The tourists, traveling in two buses, were stopped Thursday night near the village of Santoshgarh, the home region of two of the three Indians who are among seven truck drivers, who all work for the same Kuwaiti company, being held hostage by unknown kidnappers in Iraq.
The tourists -- 22 Britons, two South Koreans, a Japanese, an American, a Canadian, two Swiss, two Poles, a Dutch citizen, three Tibetans and two others of unknown nationality -- were returning to New Delhi from the Himalayan town of Dharmsala, said police officer Bimal Gupta.
The villagers blocked the road and the tourists had to stay in the buses until police reached the scene Friday morning, Gupta said. The tourists were then taken to a nearby temple complex and given food.
"They are under police protection. They will be leaving the village soon," Gupta said.
But a journalist at the scene told The Associated Press that hundreds of villagers had surrounded the temple, and that authorities were bringing in more police to prevent any outbreak of violence.
The area is about 185 miles northwest of New Delhi.
A video broadcast on Indian TV Thursday night showed one of the drivers with a kidnapper pointing a gun to his head. The kidnappers said Thursday they would kill one of the hostages in 24 hours if the Kuwaiti company doesn't stop its work in Iraq.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/07/30/india.tourists.ap/index.html