VIENNA: Two Austrians kidnapped in Tunisia by an al-Qaida affiliate have been released, ending an eight-month ordeal and anguished diplomatic attempts to win their freedom. Wolfgang Ebner, 51, and Andrea Kloiber, 43, were freed on Thursday after 252 days in captivity and were under the protection of Mali's military, Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said on Friday. Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa had claimed responsibility for abducting the pair Feb. 22 while they were on vacation in Tunisia. The precise circumstances leading up to the pair's release remained unclear, but Plassnik said the kidnappers let them go and Defense Minister Norbert Darabos said no rescue operation had been mounted. Austria's government had feared the worst after three deadlines set by their captors had expired with no sign of the missing couple from Salzburg - and no clear sense of exactly where they were being held. The group had unsuccessfully demanded the release of a Muslim husband and wife from an Austrian jail and pressed Austria to withdraw what it said were four Austrian officers in Afghanistan. Austria's Defense Ministry said there were only two officers serving in NATO's force in Afghanistan. In Mali, presidential spokesman Diarra Diakite said the Austrians were being driven Friday from the northeastern town of Douentza to the capital, Bamako. Austrian President Heinz Fischer expressed relief and thanked officials in Mali for their help. "Now the many months of waiting and worrying are over," he said. Kloiber's mother, Christine Lenz, wept on national TV as news of her daughter's release was announced. "I still can't believe it," she said. "I won't completely believe it until I'm able to wrap my arms around Andrea."
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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