Kidnapped Italians freed

Two aid workers in Somalia in good health, foreign minister (ANSA) - Rome, August 5 - Two Italian aid workers kidnapped in Somalia in May have been released, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told the House on Tuesday. The pair, Iolanda Occhipinti and Giuliano Paganini, were abducted from the offices of their non-governmental organisation on May 21 by armed men who drove off on jeeps. A Somali who co-managed the project, identified as Abderahman Yusuf, was also kidnapped. Frattini said the two Italians were ''about to land at Nairobi airport'' and were in ''good health''. He voiced ''the government's immense and profound satisfaction for this outcome, the result of months of efforts'' but declined to provide futher details, saying ''we'll wait to hear from the (former) hostages''. The news of the release had been leaked... [read full story]