Tourists under attack in the Horn of Africa

An attack that left five European tourists dead on the slopes of Ethiopia's Erta Ale volcano this week was the deadliest in years in East Africa.

The unidentified gunmen abducted two other tourists during the attack near the volcano, which lies in a remote spot but is popular with volcano buffs and adventure trekkers.

Here is a list of previous attacks in the region:

Ethiopia

- March 1, 2007: Five Europeans, including three Britons, one French woman and a woman of joint Italian-British nationality are abducted in north eastern Ethiopia, not far from the border with Eritrea. The abduction is claimed by rebels in the Afar region. The hostages are freed in Eritrea on March 13.

In 2004, a French tourist disappeared in the Afar region and was never found.

- February 20, 2008: Ethiopia accuses gunmen it says were backed by the Eritrean government of trying to abduct a group of 28, mainly French, tourists in the Afar region.

Kenya

Kenya has in recent months been hit by an unprecedented wave of attacks and kidnappings targeting foreigners and blamed on armed Somali groups, including the Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab.

- September 10-11, 2011, overnight: Gunmen seize British tourists David and Judith Tebbutt, both in their fifties, who are holidaying north of the idyllic Lamu archipeligo, near to the Somali border. David Tebbutt is killed fighting off the attackers, while Judith Tebbutt is believed to have been sold on to pirates in central Somalia.

- October 1: Disabled French woman Marie Dedieu is abducted in Lamu and taken to Somalia where she dies in captivity. She had lived for 15 years in Kenya.

- November 4, 2011: A Swiss tourist is shot and seriously injured and her driver killed when their car is attacked by suspected bandits near the Shaba game reserve in eastern Kenya, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) from Nairobi.

Somalia

Somali pirates plying the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden have carried out hundreds of attacks in recent years.

While the marauding sea-jackers mainly target merchant vessels to demand ransoms from shipping companies, they have also seized several private vessels, undermining yachting tourism in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and the Seychelles.

- 2008: Somali pirates seize a middle-aged French couple sailing on their yacht, the Carre d'As. They are rescued after French special forces storm the vessel. Two other French yachts have been captured since 2008.

- 2009: British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler are captured while on their way to Tanzania from the Seychelles. They are freed after 388 days in captivity following a ransom payment.

- 2010: Two South Africans are still being held by Somali pirates. They were seized in October 2010.