Spaniard kidnapped in Mauritania 'being freed'

Spanish aid worker Alicia Gamez, 39, one of three kidnapped in Mauritania by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in November, is "being freed" an anti-terrorist source in Madrid said Wednesday.

"She is being taken to a safe place," the source said.

Spanish national radio (RNE) reported that Gamez's freedom was "imminent" and that First Vice President Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega had gone to Barcelona on Tuesday to tell her family the good news.

Gamez will be freed along with an Italian woman originally from Burkina Faso who was kidnapped with her Italian husband on December 18, Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported on its website.

There was no word on the remaining two Spaniards and Italian.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called early Wednesday for prudence but said that "things are going in the right direction."

The Spanish press reported several weeks ago that AQIM had demanded a ransom for the release of the three aid workers for a Barcelona aid group, who were kidnapped in Mauritania on November 29.

Spanish daily El Mundo said Madrid was in the process of paying a five million dollar (3.7 million euro) ransom in exchange for the hostages.

However on March 1 a Malian negotiator said the case "had reached a standstill".

AQIM had previously demanded the release of Mauritanian prisoners for the safety and freedom of the Italian couple, giving a deadline of March 1, which has passed with no news.

In February a French hostage was released after four Islamist prisoners detained in Mali were freed.

Mauritania's Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdhaf said last week that his government refused to negotiate with "terrorist groups" or make an exchange of prisoners for hostages in the hands of Islamic extremists.

But he added that his government was working hard to win the freedom of hostages captured on Mauritanian territory.

"There will not be negotiations with terrorist groups and there will not be an exchange of anyone for anyone with the hostage-takers. Otherwise, we will never finish," he said.

The threat posed by terrorist groups in the Sahel is being taken very seriously after the death of British tourist Edwin Dyer in June 2009, killed by AQIM after six months in captivity when London refused to yield to blackmail by the Islamist combatants.