CAIRO -- An Egyptian tour guide accused of kidnapping four German tourists in March, tried to kill his estranged German wife in 1988, AFP quoted State Security Court Prosecutor Sameh Seif as saying on Thursday.

Ibrahim said Mussa "attempted in 1988 to kill his ex-wife, a German national, who wanted a divorce after five years of marriage. He was sentenced at the time to a prison term, but had fled", Deif told the court.

The hostage-taking was a bid "to force the Egyptian authorities to intervene in order to bring his children back", the prosecutor added.

Mussa is accused of having taken four Germans hostage for three days in the southern Pharaonic temple city of Luxor in mid-March. He has told the High State Security Court in Cairo that the German tourists went with him voluntarily.

The charge held against him can carry life in prison with hard labor.

Mussa had previously been married to another German woman.