Spain News - Three Spanish aid workers are feared kidnapped by Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb

The three Spanish nationals, "two men and a woman, were travelling in a car, the last vehicle of a convoy that was heading from Nouadhibou to Nouakchott" when they were attacked on Sunday afternoon, a Spanish diplomat said.

Spain News - Three Spanish aid workers are feared kidnapped by Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb

Three Spanish humanitarian workers have been kidnapped in northwestern Mauritania by suspected Al-Qaeda members, officials and aid workers said.

The three Spanish nationals, "two men and a woman, were travelling in a car, the last vehicle of a convoy that was heading from Nouadhibou to Nouakchott" when they were attacked on Sunday afternoon, a Spanish diplomat said.

Rubalcaba said that we can not definitely say, but acknowledged that he fears that "this is an abduction by Islamic radicals. If confirmed, it would not be the first kidnapping by AQMI as it does "operate in Europe" he added. In the same vein the Defence Minister, Carme Chacon, who said that "the evidence" that the government has on the abduction point to Al Qaeda.

Yesterday afternoon , three Catalans, who were on a humanitarian convoy from Barcelona Accio Solidària NGOs in Mauritania were kidnapped by a group of assailants. The three hostages were Albert Vilalta, CEO Cadí Tunnels and son of former Regional Minister of the Environment of the same name, and entrepreneurs Alicia Gamez and Roque Pascual.

The incident occurred about 150 kilometres from the capital Nouakchott, in the road between this city and Nouadhibou, the largest in the north, when a group of gunmen attacked the vehicle, which forced them to stop . The rest of the convoy heard shots and screams and when they arrived at the scene found a car with the doors open and without its occupants. They immediately proceeded to call the Spanish embassy in the country, four cars of the Mauritanian police eventually arrived at the scene. Mauritanian security forces and military units deployed immediately and initiated a detailed search near the road, the nation's busiest.

Ministry sources confirmed that both the Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, and Secretary of State for Cooperation, Soraya Rodriguez, "have already been informed" of the kidnapping and "and appropriate steps are being made" to secure their release, including activation of "diplomatic mechanisms" relevant to the Embassy of Mauritania and Senegal.

Meanwhile, the Government is intensifying efforts to try to resolve the kidnapping, which could be the handiwork of Al Qaeda. So the vice De la Vega and Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, has spoken with President of the Generalitat, José Montilla, and the mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu.

The Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, described it as "very bad" news that radical Islamists of Al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb may be behind the kidnapping of Catalan aid workers in Mauritania

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