Freed aid workers kidnapped in Africa to return home

Two Spanish and an Italian aid worker who were held by al-Qaeda in Africa for nine months are about to return to their home countries, the non-governmental organization that employs one of them said.

Inaki Markiegi, president of Mundubat, said that the Spanish man and woman, and the Italian woman, had been taken to a "safe place" in Burkina Faso.

The three were released, reportedly in Mali, on Wednesday after having been held for nine months by a Salafist movement forming part of the North African branch of al-Qaeda.

They were abducted in Tindouf, Algeria, where they were working to help Western Saharan refugees. They are then believed to have been taken to northern Mali.

Markiegi thanked the governments of Spain, Italy, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Mauritania and the self-proclaimed Republic of Western Sahara.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo has confirmed the release of the aid workers. He declined to reveal whether a ransom was paid for them.