(RTTNews) - Three Spanish aid workers have been abducted by suspected Islamic militants in northwestern Mauritania, said officials and media reports on Monday.

The three aid workers were involved with a Spanish aid group, Barcelona Accion Solidaria, when they were abducted by suspected Islamic militants on Sunday, some 150 km north of Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital.

Reports indicated that the trio were abducted near the town of Chelkhett Legtouta, when they were on their way to deliver supplies to impoverished villages in northwestern Mauritania.

Their convoy was reportedly stopped by a group of armed young men wearing turbans when it was on its way to to the town of Nouadhibou. It was indicated that the kidnappers allowed the rest of the convoy to proceed after taking the three Spaniards hostage.
Meanwhile, Spanish interior ministry confirmed the abduction of the three aid workers, with Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba saying that "everything suggests" al-Qaeda's North African wing was involved in the kidnapping.

Until recently, Mauritania was a relatively peaceful country with few or no terror attacks. But violence related to Islamic terrorism increased in the country after the al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, the international terror group's north African wing, established itself in Mauritania in 2005.

This year alone, the al-Qaeda in the Maghreb has claimed responsibility for killing an American teacher in June and a suicide attack on the French embassy in August, injuring two guards. Four French tourists were killed in a terror attack in 2007, in addition to the several attacks on government troops and an attack on the Israeli embassy not so long ago.

by RTT Staff Writer

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