Ransom of 15 mn euros paid for European hostages: Mali Islamists
L-R: Spain's Enric Gonyalons and Ainhoa Fernandez Rincon and Italy's Rossella Urru arrive at the airport in Ouagadougou. By Ahmed Ouoba (AFP)
BAMAKO (AFP) - A ransom of 15 million euros ($18.4 million) was paid for three European hostages to the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, a spokesman for the Mali Islamist group claimed Thursday.
"We got 15 million euros for the release of the three hostages and we also secured the release of a mujahedeen imprisoned by Mauritania" in return for freeing an Italian and two Spanish aid workers, Walid Abu Sarhaoui told AFP.