Kidnappers kill 5 Chinese hostages in Sudan

Khartoum: Kidnappers killed five Chinese oil workers out of nine they had been holding hostage in central Sudan, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

"Five were murdered. Two were able to escape with minor injuries," ministry spokesman Ali AlSadig told Reuters.

The kidnappers, who he said were members of the Darfur rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), were still holding two of the workers hostage.

"This was done with direct instructions from the Justice and Equality Movement," Sadig said.

The oil workers were seized in South Kordofan, central Sudan, on October 19, in the third such incident in the region in the past year.