Al Qaeda says it took Italian pair as hostages

December 29, 2009|Associated Press

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania - An Al Qaeda offshoot claimed responsibility yesterday for kidnapping two Italians in Mauritania earlier this month, and Rome’s foreign minister said it was likely that the hostages were in the hands of the radical Islamist group.

In an audio message broadcast yesterday on Al-Arabiya TV, Al Qaeda in North Africa spokesman Salah Abou Mohamed said the Dec. 19 kidnapping was a punishment for “crimes committed by the Italian government in Afghanistan and Iraq.’’ He did not elaborate.

Italy currently has 3,150 troops in Afghanistan. It has only 91 troops in Iraq, but at one point Italy’s 3,000 troops made Italy the second-largest US coalition partner in Iraq, after Britain.

Sergio Cicala and his wife Philopene Kabore were heading from Mauritania to Burkina Faso to see her 12-year-old son when they were taken by gunmen from their four-wheel-drive vehicle. Kabore is an Italian citizen originally from Burkina Faso.

Mauritanian officials said they have arrested and are interrogating a Malian citizen who they think may be responsible.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini of Italy told the Sky TG24 television channel that intelligence agencies were still checking the claim, but said that it appeared credible.

Another ministry official, Undersecretary Alfredo Mantica, was more skeptical in an earlier interview, saying he believed the couple had been kidnapped for ransom.

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