Did al-Qa'ida kidnap British embassy staff?

Fears were growing yesterday that the Britons linked to the embassy in Ethiopia who were taken hostage may be the victims of Islamist fighters connected to al-Qa'ida rather than opportunist robbers.

What began last Thursday as a criminal kidnapping has become a matter of national security being dealt with at the highest level.

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The full extent of the difficulties facing British authorities attempting to rescue the five men and women began to emerge with growing evidence that they may have been political targets.

The vehicles used by the British embassy staff and their relatives were found abandoned by the roadside in Hamedali, in the Afar region of Ethiopia, yesterday. They had bullet and burn marks on the bodywork, but belongings including mobile telephones, luggage and shoes had been left behind. A Foreign Office spokesman said the discovery of the cars was "distressing".

The failure to take lucrative items has led diplomats to believe that monetary gain may not have been the primary aim of the kidnappers. Sources close to the investigation also said there had not been any verifiable demand so far for large sums of money. There were, they added, "patterns of behaviour" by the armed group which caused grave concern.

Unmanned US Predator aircraft from the American base in neighbouring Djibouti are said to have carried out aerial searches. British and American authorities refused to discuss the missions.

Armed supporters of the fundamentalist Islamist Courts regime in Somalia are known to have taken refuge in Eritrea after their defeat by American-backed Ethiopian forces in a lightning offensive at the end of last year. They include two leaders, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys and Aden Hashi Ayro, who the US and Britain accuse of having links with al-Qa'ida. The Americans, who extended the "war on terror" against al-Qa'ida in the Horn of Africa from Djibouti, suspected the Islamic militants in Somalia of sheltering al-Qa'ida suspects wanted for the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

The Ethiopian government has accused forces from Eritrea, which supported the Islamist regime in Mogadishu, of carrying out the abductions of the Britons. The claims have been vehemently denied by Eritrea, which fought a bloody two-year border war with Ethiopia that ended in 2000. Senior diplomatic and military sources acknowledge that any Islamist group responsible for the kidnappings could have done so without the approval or knowledge of the Eritrean government.

The British Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, said in Brussels: "This is a matter of serious concern and we are doing everything we can. We are working very closely with the Ethiopian government at all levels, as well as with others in the region, to secure their safe and early return."

A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister was being kept informed of the situation.

The tour group, which also included 13 Ethiopian drivers and translators, went missing on Thursday while travelling in the Afar desert, a vast, unforgiving expanse of salt mines and volcanoes 500 miles north-east of Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian government has said that five of its nationals have been found. Hussein Idriss, one of the guides, said the group had been captured by men wearing Eritrean uniforms. After his release, he had walked 18 miles to reach the border.

Despite some reports to the contrary, units of the SAS have yet to appear on the ground in Afar where the kidnappings took place. The Addis Ababa government is said to have taken exception to suggestions that dozens of armed British troops are in the area.

Residents of Mekele, the Afar region's capital, about 60 miles from Hamedali, said they had seen and spoken to members of British special forces. But diplomatic sources claimed the men they met were members of British diplomatic and security staff from Addis Ababa who had travelled to Afar.

Units of the SAS, Special Boat Service and Special Reconnaissance Regiment carry out exercises in Kenya and are based in Djibouti, where the US has set up the 2,000-strong Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa to counter the Islamist threat.

American special forces took part in operations against Islamist fighters during the recent conflict in Somalia and US warplanes carried out strikes in which they claimed a number of Islamist leaders had been killed. It emerged subsequently that the main targets - Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Abu Taiha al-Sudani and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan - had escaped unhurt although a number of civilians were killed.

Contingency plans for a rescue began to be organised within hours of the Britons' abductions. Both the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence maintained last night that negotiations remained the preferred means of obtaining their release, but security sources privately stated that a rescue operation may become imperative if there were further signs of terrorist involvement.

Bob Dewar, the British ambassador in Addis Ababa, said: "If, as has been speculated, the group is being held against their will, it may be they have been victims of mistaken identity. Whatever the case, there will be those in the community who are willing and able to facilitate their safe return. We stand ready to hear from anyone with information relating to the group's disappearance.

"I would urge anyone who thinks they can help to contact the British embassy or the Ethiopian authorities, via a community leader if necessary. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of all those involved. They are husbands, fathers and sons, wives, mothers and daughters. Their families miss them terribly and want them home."

Meanwhile, a group of French tourists who had been missing since Thursday have returned, saying that they had not been kidnapped, as previously feared. Upon arrival in Mekele, the group said that they did not have a satellite phone to check in with their tour company.