Spaniards "found" in Mauritania - release not confirmed (Roundup)

Dec 1, 2009, 20:00 GMT

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

The Spanish government said it could not confirm the information, nor reports that the three had been released, government representatives told dpa in Estoril, Portugal, where Spain attended an Ibero-American summit. The government also said that the Mauritanian authorities had denied that the hostages had been found.

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.

Josep Ramon Jimenez of the aid organization Barcelona Accio Solidaria said the Mauritanian authorities had told him the aid workers had been located.

Jimenez, whose organization the two men and one woman worked for, said he hoped for the 'good news' of their release soon.

'We dont have anything new on the subject,' a government source told dpa.

'I cannot confirm or deny information relating to the release of the hostages,' Spanish environment official Josep Buxeu said at a press conference in Nouakchott.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero earlier 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.

The aid workers were 'well' while their abductors were negotiating a ransom with the Mauritanian army and with the Polisario Front, the daily El Mundo quoted Moroccan officials as saying.

Polisario was helping to search for the aid workers in areas it controlled, a Polisario representative said in Madrid. Polisario seeks the independence of Western Sahara, which is under Moroccan control.

The Spanish government, meanwhile, announced the creation of a coordination group to monitor the situation in Mauritania.

Spanish Foreign Ministry sources earlier 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 the three Spaniards abducted the previous night at gunpoint as they were returning to 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.

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.