CAIRO -- Two American tourists abducted in Egypt's Sinai region while on a church bus tour of the Middle East were released on Monday after three days in captivity, officials told NBC News.

Pastor Rev. Michel Louis, 61 and another woman, 39 – both from Boston – were kidnapped on Friday by a Bedouin tribesman who was angry at the jailing of his uncle on drug charges.

It was not immediately clear if their Egyptian tour guide, who was also taken hostage, had been released.

Egyptian authorities had sought help from local tribal leaders to mediate with the tribesman.

The abduction took place along the road linking Cairo to the sixth-century St. Catherine's Monastery, located at the foot of Mount Sinai where the Old Testament says Moses received the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments.

The route is a frequent target by Bedouins who abduct tourists to pressure police to meet their demands, which is usually to release a detained relative they say has been unjustly arrested.

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