Two Spanish aid workers held hostage by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have been released, putting an end to a nine-month kidnapping ordeal.

Albert Vilalta, 35, and Roque Pascual, 50, were taken hostage by the North African group while on a relief mission through Mauritania in November last year.

The two men have been flown from Mali to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and are expected to arrive in Barcelona on Monday night.

"They are safe and sound after 268 days in the hands of their kidnappers," Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain's prime minister, said on Monday.

"This brings an end to an act of terrorism that should never have happened."

Zapatero said family members were travelling with a government representative to meet the two men, who worked for Accio Solidaria, a Catalan charity.

Demands met

AQIM issued a statement saying "thanks to God, the mujahedeen have found a positive solution to the issue of the Spanish hostages Albert Vilalta and Roque Pascual, which ended on Sunday ... with their release after some of our demands were met," without specifying what these demands were.

Their release follows the transfer from Mauritania to Mali of the kidnap mastermind, Malian national Omar Sid'Ahmed Ould Hamma, who had been jailed for 12 years by a Mauritanian court.

But officials in Mauritania and Mali have not confirmed whether the two events are linked.

Spanish dailies El Mundo and ABC both reported on Monday that the release of the aid workers was the result a payment by the Spanish government which El Mundo put at $4.8m and ABC at between $6.3m and $12.7m.

AQIM said the release was a "lesson for the French secret services to take into consideration in the future," referring to failed Mauritanian-French raid in Mali in July that aimed to rescue French hostage Michel Germaneau  and in which seven AQIM members were killed.

"They had the chance to act responsibly and use their heads with the mujahedeen and avoid the madness and anger that led to the deaths of their citizens."

AQIM has said that Spain is one of its targets because it is an ally of the United States and part of the Nato military alliance.

PHOTO CAPTION

Roque Pasqual (C), one of the two hostages released by Al-Qaeda's North African wing after nine months in captivity in Mali, arrives at the military airport in Ouagadougou.

Al-Jazeera