Egyptian officials plan talks to free U.S. hostages

Egyptian officials are preparing for negotiations to secure the release of two Americans abducted in the mountainous Sinai region and enlisting Bedouin tribal leaders as mediators, a security source said on Sunday.

U.S. officials have also said they are working with Egyptian authorities to broker a release of the Americans.

A Bedouin tribesman, Germy Abu Masouh, said he had kidnapped a U.S. pastor, an American woman and their Egyptian tour guide in central Sinai on Friday to protest the jailing of his uncle on drug charges, according to one security source.