Two Chinese workers were freed hours after being taken hostage by gunmen in Cairo early yesterday morning.
Xinhua quoted Zhang Zhizhong, director of the consular section at the Chinese embassy in Cairo, as saying that the workers, sent to Egypt by a stone materials company in Guangdong, were kidnapped as they were walking out of their rented flat in Maadi in southern Cairo at about 6am.
The state news agency later issued another dispatch saying the two workers had been released, but did not specify the time or conditions of their release.
It was the latest in a string of kidnappings that have sparked growing concern about the safety of Chinese overseas as they head abroad in search of commodities and business opportunities.
Sudanese rebels in southern Kordofan, near the border with South Sudan, kidnapped 29 Chinese workers on January 28, and released them 10 days later.
Bedouin tribesmen who took 25 Chinese workers hostage in Egypt on January 31 freed them a day later.