Bamako - Islamist militants on Wednesday freed a Spanish aid worker and an Italian woman who were being taken to Burkina Faso from Mali, where kidnappers have held them since November.
"The news is good. As we speak the two women are on their way to Burkina," said a Malian negotiator.
An anti-terrorist source in Madrid said earlier on Wednesday that Alicia Gamez, 39, one of three Spanish aid workers kidnapped in Mauritania by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in November, was "being freed".
"She is being taken to a safe place," the source said.
Sources close to the negotiation process said Italian national Philomene Kaboure, 39, of Burkina Faso descent, had initially refused to be freed, preferring to remain behind with her Italian husband, Sergio Cicala, 65.
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The couple were kidnapped on December 18, also in Mauritania.
Spanish vice-president Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega confirmed she had gone to Barcelona on Tuesday to speak to the families of the three aid workers about possible developments to come in the hostage situation.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called early on 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, who were kidnapped in Mauritania on November 29.
Spanish daily El Mundo said Madrid was in the process of paying a $5 million (R37m) 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.
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. - Sapa-AFP
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