Mauritanian officials: Abducted Spanish aid workers located (2nd Lead)

Dec 1, 2009, 15:46 GMT

Nouakchott/Madrid - Mauritanian security officials on Tuesday said they had located three Spanish aid workers abducted last week, police told the German Press Agency dpa.

Military officials had begun negotiations with the hostage-takers, who were tracked down at roughly 150 kilometres north of the capital Nouakchott, according to police.

A representative for the Spanish aid organization Barcelona Accio Solidaria confirmed that its employees had been found, the daily El Mundo said on its website.

Josep Ramon Jimenez said the organization would meet with the Spanish ambassador in Mauritania to discuss how the negotiations with the kidnappers would be conducted.

The aid workers were 'well' while their abductors were negotiating a ransom with the Mauritanian army and with the Polisario Front, the independence movement of neighbouring Western Sahara, which Morocco regards as a part of its territory, El Mundo quoted Moroccan officials as saying.

The Spanish daily El Pais meanwhile reported that that Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz denied reports of the latest developments in a meeting with a Spanish diplomat.

Spanish Foreign Ministry sources said they could not yet confirm that the kidnappers belonged to the North African branch of al-Qaeda.

Mauritanian security forces on Monday launched a massive manhunt for three Spanish aid workers abducted the previous night.

The two men and a woman were abducted at gunpoint as they were returning to the capital, Nouakchott, from the port city of Nouadhibou, near the border with Western Sahara.

The attackers targeted the last vehicle in an aid convoy, forcing its occupants to enter their four-wheel drive.

Spanish diplomats and secret service were mobilized in a search for the aid workers while Mauritania deployed five police patrols, two air force planes and ground troops, according to Spanish government sources.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called for 'prudence' and 'discretion,' saying he could not disclose information on the case in order not to obstruct the possible release of the Spaniards.

A National Court judge meanwhile said he would investigate the case.

There had been fears in Spain that the kidnappers would request a higher ransom from Spain than had been demanded from other countries in similar cases.

Al-Qaeda has called for a Muslim reconquest of Al-Andalus, a name for the parts of Spain that were under Muslim rule until the late 15th century.

Mauritanian security forces have battled fighters from the North African branch of al-Qaeda in the remote region around the country's border with Algeria and Mali for years.

The Spanish government was in contact with the governments of Mauritania and neighbouring Mali, where a French citizen was abducted by alleged al-Qaeda militants a few days earlier.

Western countries have been concerned about the growing influence of al-Qaeda in some parts of Africa, including Mauritania. In December 2007, four French tourists were gunned down in the country, prompting the cancellation of the Paris-Dakar rally.

In June, a US teacher was shot dead in Nouakchott.