KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) An Italian aid worker held hostage for
more than three weeks in Afghanistan has been released and is
healthy, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.
Clementina Cantoni, 32, was safe, Interior Ministry spokesman
Latfullah Mashal said.
''Yes, she has been released. She is at the Ministry of
Interior. She has spoken with her mother by phone,'' he told The
Associated Press.
Later, at a press conference, he said Cantoni ''is in good
health given the 24-day ordeal she went through.''
The government did not make any concessions to the kidnappers to
secure her release, he said.
''No ransom was paid and no other concession was given,'' he
said.
Cantoni was abducted by armed men May 16 as she was being driven
to her home in the capital, Kabul. She was working for CARE
International on a project helping Afghan widows and their
families.
Michael Kleinman, an official with CARE International, declined
to comment on her release.
Afghan officials had been optimistic of her imminent release in
the past couple of days and said recent contacts with the kidnapper
had suggested Cantoni was healthy.
