Cairo  - Fifteen tourists were kidnapped in Upper Egypt on Monday, with Egyptian authorities now in touch with kidnappers to try to negotiate their release, latest media reports said.

The latest reports said that the 15 included five Germans, five Italians, four Egyptians and one Romanian national.

The kidnapped were on a safari trip when they were seized by four masked men.

In both Berlin and Rome, the respective foreign ministries confirmed that their nationals were among the kidnap victims.

Meanwhile the Al-Jazeera television news network cited Egyptian Tourism Minister Zuheir Garana as saying that negotiations with the kidnappers were already underway. He said a ransom demand had been made.

Garana however said that negotiations with the kidnappers were being conducted via the tourism company which organized the safari trip for the group.

An official Egyptian government source confirmed that the kidnap victims had been taken to Sudan, the BBC reported.

The source said that the kidnapping took place near the Egyptian- Sudanese border.

The four Egyptians kidnapped included two tourism guides, the bus driver and a police officer serving as a guard.

The official source also told BBC that talks with the Sudanese government were taking place to try to secure the release of the kidnap vicitms.

Initial reports had said that Israelis may also have been among the kidnap victims, but authorities later denied this.

In Israel, local radio said that no Israelis were among those kidnapped.

One week ago, Israel warned its citizens against travelling to Egypt and called on Israelis to return home amid specific warnings about the danger of a kidnapping. (dpa)