Fijian military on Tuesday denied overseas media reports that 10 Fijian soldiers of the United Nations Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) were kidnapped in Sinai, Egypt by Bedouin tribesmen earlier in the day.

It was a roadblock incident, and reports from BBC and other overseas outlets are distorted, said Land Force Commander Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga.

He added that the tribesmen stopped the soldiers at a checkpoint and fired warning shots. After negotiations for more than one hour, the soldiers were allowed to go through. "We will have more later today,"said Tikoitoga.

The MFO is an independent force formed to monitor the borders between Egypt and Israel following the 1979 peace accord.

Fiji provides an infantry battalion to the MFO whose mission is to observe and report all activities in the Northern Sector of Zone C, which includes the major border crossings at Rafah, Kerem Shalom and al-Awga/Nizzana.