Al-Qaida Group Frees 2 Spanish Hostages
The Spanish government says two aid workers kidnapped by an al-Qaida group in Mauritania last year have been freed. A government spokesman Monday confirmed the release of Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta, and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero later made a statement during a brief press conference in Madrid.
Media reports earlier said Pascual and Vilalta were being taken from a remote hideout in Mali to Burkina Faso, where Spanish officials were waiting to pick them up.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb kidnapped Pascual, Vilalta and a female co-worker last November. The woman, Alicia Gamez, was freed in March. All three work for the Spanish aid group Solidarity Action.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks and kidnappings across Africa's Sahel region over the past few years. It killed a French hostage, Michel Germanau, last month and a British hostage, Edwin Dyer, last year.