Italian hostage released in Kabul

Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni has been freed nearly a month after being taken hostage in Afghanistan.

"I am pleased to announce this evening that we were able to release Clementina who was taken hostage 24 days ago," Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmed Jalali said.

Ms Cantoni, 32, who works for Care International, was abducted by gunmen who forced her out of her car.

She has been in Afghanistan since September 2003.

She was in charge of a programme supporting more than 10,000 widows and their children.

Widows helped by her project staged many demonstrations in the capital calling for her release.

And earlier on Thursday, hundreds of schoolgirls in the Afghan capital, Kabul, handed out nearly 3,000 stickers calling for Ms Cantoni to be freed. Last Sunday Pope Benedict XVI pleaded for her release.

The abduction sent shockwaves through both the Afghan and foreign communities in the capital.

Afghan authorities said earlier that Ms Cantoni was abducted by a criminal gang rather than by Islamic militants.

In a hastily arranged news conference, Minister Jalali said Ms Cantoni's release was "a result of the hard work of the police and the nation".

"The policy of the Afghan government is not to deal with the hostage-takers. We did not pay any ransom," he said.

The Afghan government had criticised the Italian embassy in Kabul for trying to negotiate Ms Cantoni's release with her kidnappers.

• afghanistan
• italy
• hostages
• clementina
• cantoni
• terrorism