BAMAKO (Reuters) -A Tuareg rebel alliance in northern Mali has released a Spanish man kidnapped in North Africa on Jan. 17, two of the group’s spokesmen said late on Monday.
Spain’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a Spanish man had been kidnapped in North Africa.
El Pais newspaper reported that the man was kidnapped in southern Algeria by an Islamist group and taken to Mali, though the Foreign Ministry did not confirm that information.
In a post on X, one of the leaders of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) said a Spanish national named Gilbert Navarro “kidnapped in Algeria a few days ago” and transported by his captors to north Mali had been freed by FLA forces on Monday.
The former hostage would be protectively spending the night with the FLA before being transferred to Algerian authorities, said Attaye Ag Mohamed, who also acts as a spokesman for the group.
Another FLA spokesman, Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, said on X that the FLA had freed Navarro, who was in good health, and that more details would follow.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Spain is in a dispute between Morocco and Algeria over the Western Sahara, which was controlled by Spain until 1975 and is now claimed by Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks its independence.
(Reporting by Tiemoko DialloAdditional reporting by Inti Landauro in MadridWriting by Sofia ChristensenEditing by Bernadette Baum and Sharon Singleton)
