> Last Updated: Monday, 10 March 2008, 18:01 GMT
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> Al-Qaeda claims Austrian hostages
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> Tunisia is a popular holiday destination
> Militant group al-Qaeda in Islamic North Africa has said it took two
> Austrian tourists hostage in Tunisia last month.
> The declaration, made in an audio broadcast aired on al-Jazeera TV,
> said the duo were kidnapped on 22 February.
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> A spokesman who called himself Salah Abou-Mohammad said it was
> retribution for the West's support of Israel.
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> Austria's foreign ministry said two Austrians had been missing in
> Tunisia since mid-February.
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> 'Previously warned'
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> The al-Qaeda spokesman said the pair were in good health.
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> Austrian authorities did not release their names, saying only that
> they were a 51-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, the Associated Press
> news agency reported.
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> "We tell Western tourists that at the same time they are flowing into
> Tunisian lands seeking joy, our brothers are being slain in Gaza by the Jews
> with the collaboration of the Western states," the al-Qaeda spokesman was
> quoted by AP as saying.
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> "The mujahideen have previously warned and alerted them that the
> apostate Tunisian state cannot and will not be able to protect you, and the
> hands of the mujahideen can reach you wherever you are on the Tunisian
> soil."
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> It is reported the couple were last heard from in the southern
> Tunisian town of Matmata.
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> "The spokesman said in the tape that the group will announce its
> conditions for the release of the two tourists at a later stage," an
> al-Jazeera broadcaster was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
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> Tunisia, a popular destination for European holidaymakers, has seen
> attacks on tourists by al-Qaeda before.
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> In 2002, a truck bomb outside a synagogue on the Tunisian island of
> Djerba killed 21 people, including 14 German tourists
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