EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian intelligence officials say they are negotiating with Bedouin gunmen to free two tourists kidnapped along a main road in Egypt’s southern Sinai Peninsula.

The intelligence officials said Saturday that a Bedouin kidnapper abducted an Israeli man and Norwegian woman to pressure police to release a cousin who is being held for his suspected involvement in the killing of policemen in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya.

It has been a common motive in past abductions. Tourists typically are not held long and are released unharmed.

The officials say the tourists, who were abducted Friday, are being held in a desolate mountainous area called Gabal-Maghara in Sinai.

All officials spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the subject.