Austrian hostages in the Sahara set free

Bamako: Two Austrian hostages held for months by militants in the Sahara have been freed and are now in the hands of Malian authorities, the Austrian and Malian governments said on Friday.

Andrea Kloiber, then 43, and Wolfgang Ebner, then 51, disappeared in February while on holiday in Tunisia and are believed to have been held by Al Qaida's North African wing in a remote part of Mali deep in the Sahara.

"Special envoy Anton Prohaska told me today that Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber were set free by their captors last night after 252 days," Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said in a statement.