Libya says no hostages on its territory

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The Libyan government rejected a Sudanese statement on Friday that kidnappers holding 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians had taken them from Sudan into Libya.

"Extensive search and investigations showed no hostages were on Libya's soil," said an official, declining to be named.

The kidnappers seized the tourists -- five Germans, five Italians and a Romanian -- last week while they were on a desert safari through the far southwest of Egypt.

Egyptian officials said the 19 hostages were whisked across the border into Sudan, and then on Tuesday the Sudanese Foreign Ministry's head of protocol, Ali Youssef Ahmed, said the captives had been moved into Libya.

According to Egyptian authorities, the kidnappers were demanding a large ransom. One security source said they wanted 6 million euros ($8.8 million) to set the hostages free.

There has been contradictory information about the identity of the kidnappers. Egyptian officials have said the kidnappers could be Sudanese or Chadian, while Sudanese officials at first said they believed the hostage-takers were Egyptian.

The remote area where the tourists were seized is accessible by desert vehicles from the conflict zones of Sudan's western Darfur region and eastern Chad. Tour operators say they have seen an increase in banditry in the area over the past year.

On Thursday, an Egyptian government source said Egyptian and German authorities had spoken to the kidnappers by satellite telephone and that negotiators were optimistic about reaching a "good outcome" soon.

(Reporting by Salah Sarrar, Writing by Lamine Ghanmi)