[10/March/2010]

DAKAR, March 10 (Saba) -- A Spanish hostage was released on Wednesday by the North African wing of Al-Qaeda (AQMI), according to reports reaching here from Mali, according to Xinhua.

Alicia Gamez is on route to Barcelona after kidnapped in Mauritania, where three Spanish humanitarian workers and an Italian couple were taken hostage in November and December.

Sources from Mali also indicated that an Italian of Burkina Faso origin, Philomene Kaboure, would be freed a little bit later.

Kaboure, 39, was taken hostage by a group of armed men in November while driving her car in the east of Mauritania towards Burkina Faso. Her Italian husband Sergio Cicala, 65, was also captured by the gunmen, who then held the couple in a desert zone in northern Mali.

The authorities of both Spain and Italy sought help from the Malian government for the release of the hostages.

AQMI recently freed French hostage Pierre Camatte after the Mali authorities let go four detained terrorists.

But the swap sparked protests from Mauritania and Algeria, which recalled their ambassadors from Mali, vowing never to give in to AQMI.

Saba