Kidnapped European aid workers taken to Mali

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MADRID (Xinhua) — It was reported on Monday that the two Spanish and one Italian charity workers who were kidnapped in Algeria on Saturday night by a group thought to be linked to al Qaeda were taken to somewhere in Mali.

The Spaniards, Ainhoa Fernandez and Enric Gonyalons and the Italian, Rosella Urru, were taken from a refugee camp close to the town of Tinduf in Western Algeria, where they were working with refugees from Western Sahara.

The kidnap happened just before midnight local time following a brief gunfight with the Saharan guards, who were protecting the refugee camp.

The exchange of gunfire left the driver hired by the trio with a bullet wound in his neck and he is now in a critical condition.

Al Qaeda is active in southern Algeria, Mali and Mauritania, where they have participated in several similar incidents in recent years.

The kidnappers used four Toyota vehicles to make their escape through Mauritania and into Mali.

Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez has said that Spain will work with “prudence and discretion” to free the hostages.

Meanwhile two Spanish aid workers who were also kidnapped from a refugee camp inside Kenya over a week ago have remained in the hands of their captors, who crossed the border from Somalia.

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