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| Africa North |
| Belmokhtar frees the two Spanish hostages and recovers the terrorist Omar Sahraoui |
| 2010-08-23 |
| [Ennahar] The terrorist organization AQIM has released the two Spanish hostages, Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta. The Spanish authorities announced that a plane was ready to fly from Madrid to the area but « we do not know the exact location of their delivery" to the Spanish authorities, according to the Spanish daily El Pais. "We do not known with certainty whether the release of the hostages will be held in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) or in Timbuktu (Mali). The mediator Mustafa Shaafa'i, an adviser to President of Burkina Faso is part of the group responsible for the release", the newspaper said. A possible release of the two hostages would occur a few days after extradition from Nouakchott, Mauritania to Mali of Omar Sid Ahmed Ould Hamma, alias "Omar Sahraoui, convicted of abducting the Spanish humanitarian in Mauritania. Another hostage, a Spanish woman kidnapped at the same time with Pascual and Vilalta, Alicia Gamez, was released in March. AQMI had claimed on July 25 the execution of a French hostage Michel Germaneau, 78, after the failure of a Franco-Mauritanian military raid in Mali to try to find him and in which seven terrorists were killed. This attack had caused concern in Madrid, concerned about the fate of the Spanish hostages in the hands of an AQIM group led by Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, alias Belawar. The Catalan NGO Accio Solidaria, which included the hostages, however, had said Aug. 16 that their families had received "proof of life", they were fine and that negotiations were ongoing for their release. The hostage Alicia Gamez was released after she had announced her conversion to Islam, while the other two hostages were released against the liberation of Omar Saharaoui in addition to a ransom estimated at 10 million Euros. |
| Posted by:Fred |