Cairo - Five Italian tourists kidnapped on a desert safari in Egypt arrived home early Tuesday after being freed soldiers, news reports said.

The tourists, part of a group of 19 kidnapped in Egypt's Western Desert by masked men on September 19, landed in Turin at 1.45 am (2345 GMT), Italian media said.

The three men and two women aged between 48 and 72 left Cairo by military plane after a medical checkup.

The tourist group comprised five Germans, five Italians, one Romanian and eight Egyptians who were taken captive by a gang of masked men in the Gilf Kebir region of Egypt's Western Desert.

The kidnappers moved them first into Sudan and later into Libya and Chad, sources in Khartoum said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the freed German hostages were "well, in view of the circumstances."

"I expect that they can return to Germany soon," he added. The tourists, two women and three men aged between 37 and 69 expected to arrive back in Germany on Tuesday.

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

Both Italian and Egyptian officials stressed that no ransom payments had taken place. (dpa)