A substantial special forces team, including SAS troops, is being assembled to plan for the rescue of the five Britons abducted by militant rebels in northeast Ethiopia.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office asked the Ministry of Defence to draw up a hostage-rescue plan soon after the five Britons, four of them staff members of the British Embassy in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, and the wife of an official with the British Council, were seized while on a tourist geological expedition in the Afar region of the country. The military team includes the Armed Forces’ most experienced hostage-rescue experts, as well as specialists trained in negotiating with kidnappers.

Details of the special forces team, its numbers and its whereabouts were a closely guarded secret.

However, it is understood that all elements of the expanded special forces units are involved: the SAS; the Special Boat Service (SBS); members of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, who are experts in covert surveillance acquired during years of classified missions in Northern Ireland; and the Special Forces Support Group, the shock troops of the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment reassigned more than a year ago to provide back-up for the SAS and SBS.

No one has so far admitted the kidnappings to the Ethiopian or British governments. Five Ethiopians said to have been in the same party were reportedly found by guards near the disputed border with Eritrea yesterday. It was not clear whether they had been freed or escaped. At least another eight Ethiopians were also taken hostage.

Geoff Hoon, the Europe Minister, said that officials were working hard to secure the release of the Britons. “It is a matter of grave importance to the Foreign Office, as it would be for any British tourist,” he said.

Eritrea and Ethiopia traded accusations over who was to blame. Eritrea dismissed allegations that its forces snatched the five Britons. Witnesses claimed to have seen them at an Eritrean military base.

But Ali Abdu, the country’s Information Minister, denied any involvement. Instead, he accused Ethiopia of staging their disappearance as part of the bitter border dispute between the two countries.

Tony Hickey, a tour operator based in Addis Ababa who supplied a cook and guide to the British group, said local reports suggested that three of the vehicles had been hit by antitank grenade launchers in Hamedelah, near the border.

The small town is a popular staging post for intrepid tourists willing to withstand temperatures of 50C (122F) and the attentions of hostile tribesmen to venture into the unique geological formations of the Danakil Depression.

Times Recommends

• Mandela’s tribe threatens President Zuma
• The French empire strikes back
• Wife of cheating governor exacts a political revenge