Al Qaeda/GSPC Warns Against Raid to Free Austrian Hostages
A foreign ministry spokesman told a press conference in Vienna that officials were warned on a website that military action would have “consequences” for victims Wolfgang Ebner, 51, and Andrea Kloiber, 43.
The website published passport data from the missing couple, increasing the likelihood of an abduction, officials said.
Although still reluctant to confirm the abduction, Austrian officials said they were in close contact with authorities in Tunisia and Algeria and urged them to “refrain from military action”, spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal said.
The couple had been missing since late February from their vacation trip in Tunisia.