Germany announced Monday it was verifying  reports that the tourists recently taken hostage in Egypt had been freed, but could not confirm this.

A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, Jens Ploetner, advised reporters to treat the news reports with caution.

"When there is something to tell, we'll be the first to tell you," he said in Berlin, saying diplomats were checking out the reports.

Several Germans were in the group of 11 Europeans and eight Egyptians that was taken captive by a gang of masked men while on a desert safari in Egypt's western desert on September 19.

Earlier Monday Italian and Egyptian officials confirmed news reports that the hostages - 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians - have been freed.

"Our compatriots and the other hostages have been freed. We are ascertaining their health conditions," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.

Sources at the Italian embassy in Beirut also told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa, "The Italian hostages are now on their way their way via military Egyptian plane. They will be in Cairo in no more than an hour."

Egypt's Middle East News Agency (MENA) on Monday quoted an unnamed Egyptian official as saying that all hostages were on their way to Cairo.

A shootout between the Sudanese military and kidnappers who seized the 19 in the Gilf Kebir region of Egypt's Western Desert took place Sunday on Sudan's border with Chad.

Six of the kidnappers were reportedly slain in the clash and two were detained. "It was a clash at a roadblock in which these people did not respond to a request to stop and thus a shoot-out ensured," Frattini said.

Earlier the Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ali Youssef said that during the melee the hostages were removed from the scene by 35 armed men in vehicles who suddenly crossed the border from Chad.

In a telephone interview with dpa, Youssef confirmed that all members of the group of kidnappers are Sudanese and denied reports that there Chadians were among them as previously speculated.

He added that among the Sudanese there are members of some armed groups from Sudan's western Darfur region.

Youssef also criticized denials by the Chadian government that the kidnapped are on their territories.

The Chadian ambassador to Washington, Mahmoud Adam Bashir, on Monday told the al-Arabiya news satellite channel, "We have no hostages on our territory."

The hostages included five Germans, five Italians, one Romanian and eight Egyptians. The nationality and whereabouts has been the subject of conflicting reports.