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Kidnapped Italian nuns released Kidnapped Italian nuns released
(about 2 hours later)
Two Italian nuns kidnapped in Kenya three months ago and then held in neighbouring Somalia have been freed, the Italian prime minister has said. Two Italian nuns kidnapped in Kenya in November and then held in neighbouring Somalia have been freed.
Gunmen abducted Maria Teresa Olivero and Caterina Giraudo on 10 November in the northern Kenyan district of Mandera and then took them across the border. Gunmen snatched Maria Teresa Olivero, 67, and Caterina Giraudo, 60, from the northern Kenyan district of Mandera and took them across the border.
The women, in their 60s, were working on hunger and health programmes. The women had been working on hunger and health programmes.
PM Silvio Berlusconi said the two Roman Catholic nuns were now at the Italian embassy in Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The two Roman Catholic nuns are at the Italian embassy Kenyan capital Nairobi, from where Sister Giraudo told Sky Italia TV: "We are very happy."
"Their morale is up," he told reporters, according to the Associated Press news agency. Speaking by telephone to the channel, she added: "We were treated well, we are fine... they gave us what was necessary."
Italian state TV broadcast a telephone interview with Ms Giraudo, in which she said the affection of Kenyans "provided us with comfort after these days of suffering", AP reported. Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi had earlier confirmed their release to reporters, saying: "Their morale is up."
Following the nuns' abduction, Pope Benedict XVI expressed concern about their fate. The Vatican, which had expressed concern about the nuns' fate following their abduction on 10 November, said it welcomed the news of their release with "great joy".
In the immediate aftermath of the kidnapping there were conflicting reports about how the two had been taken away. The two, who had lived in Kenya for years, were snatched at the border town of El Wak, about 400 miles (645km) north-east of Nairobi.
A local aid worker said the women had been seized in the midst of a shoot-out at a church, while the Kenyan Red Cross said the pair had been taken hostage at their home. It is not clear who was behind the abductions.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991. North-eastern Kenya is inhabited by ethnic Somalis, and there are frequent clashes over access to land and water in the area.
In Somalia, armed gangs have kidnapped and killed a number of aid workers, while there have also been repeated attacks on Catholic targets.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991. Islamist insurgents are in control of most of the country.