Cairo  - Five Italian tourists who had been kidnapped while on a desert safari 10 days ago in Egypt left Cairo airport for Italy on Monday after they were freed by Egyptian forces, security sources said.

The Italian tourists, part of a group on 19 kidnapped in Egypt's Western Desert by masked men, left by military plane after a medical checkup in Cairo, the sources said.

The tourist group included five Germans, five Italians, one Romanian and eight Egyptians were been taken captive by a gang of masked men on September 19 while on safari in the Gilf Kebir region of Egypt's Western Desert.

The hostages were freed Sunday after a shootout between the Sudanese military and the kidnappers near Sudan's border with Chad.

The freed hostages had arrived earlier Monday evening in Cairo, with Egyptian officials saying it would be left up to them to decide whether they wished to remain in Egypt or to go directly home. (dpa)