20 July 2012: BBC News report confirms hostages freed

A prisoner exchange enabled three European aid workers held hostage to be released on Wednesday in Mali, negotiators have revealed.

“It was a release in exchange for a release,” said Gen Gilbert Diendere, who headed the mediation team, according to Reuters news agency.

BBC report >>

MADRID/BAMAKO (Reuters) – An Italian and two Spanish hostages were freed in northern Mali on Wednesday by the al Qaeda-linked MUJWA Islamist group, the Spanish government said on Wednesday.

The three aid workers were seized in a refugee camp near Tindouf, Algeria, last October and were then believed to have been transferred to northern Mali, which is now controlled by a mix of Islamist groups.

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