Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Al-Qaida Group Frees 2 Spanish Hostages

   VOA News 23 August 2010
   Spain's  Prime  Minister  Jose  Luis Rodriguez Zapatero talks during a
   brief press conference in Madrid, 23 Aug 2010

Photo: AP

   Spain's  PM  Jose  Luis  Rodriguez Zapatero talks during a brief press
   conference  in Madrid, 23 Aug 2010. An affiliate of al-Qaida has freed
   Spanish  aid workers Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta after kidnapping
   them almost nine months ago.

   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.
   On  Sunday,  Al-Arabiya  television  said  the  release  was linked to
   Mauritania  extraditing  an Islamist militant to Mali last week.  The
   militant,  Omar  Sid'Ahmed  Ould  Hamma,  was  convicted  in  July  of
   organizing  the kidnapping of the Spanish aid workers and handing them
   over to al-Qaida.
   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.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

.