Two Mauritanians kidnapped in Mali on July 18 along with three Chinese nationals were released on Tuesday July 27, a source close to the Mauritanian government said.
The five men were kidnapped in an attack on a road construction site some 55 km from the town of Kwala in southwestern Mali, not far from the Mauritanian border, according to the Malian army. .
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The two Mauritanians "
were released this afternoon by their captors and are now in the hands of the Mauritanian authorities
,
"
an official from the Mauritanian Ministry of Communication told AFP, confirming information from the Mauritanian Agency. information (AMI, official).
“They are in Vassala, on the south-eastern border with Mali. They are in good health, ”
added this source, who was unable to give details of the circumstances of their release or the identity of the kidnappers.
This official having requested anonymity and the MAI did not give any information on the fate of the three Chinese nationals kidnapped at the same time as them.
The Mauritanian news agency Al-Akhbar had reported that the attackers, who arrived on motorcycles, set fire to fuel tanks before fleeing with the hostages.
Site equipment had also been destroyed, the Malian army said, without further details.
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Kidnappings, both of Malians and foreign nationals, are commonplace in the country, a hotbed of jihadist, inter-communal or villainous violence that has stained this part of the Sahel in blood for years. Five Malian Catholics were kidnapped on June 21 after their departure from Ségué, a locality located on the Dogon plateau (center) populated largely by Catholics. Four of them were released two days later and the fifth in mid-July. French journalist Olivier Dubois, kidnapped in northern Mali on April 8, is still in the hands of his captors.
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