14 kidnapped European tourists released Tuesday

BAMAKO, Mali — Fourteen European tourists held hostage for six months were on their way out of the Sahara Desert on Tuesday, after international negotiations won their release from an Islamic extremist group.

The 14 — nine Germans, four Swiss and a Dutchman — were expected to fly from the northern Mali desert city of Gao to the West African nation's capital, Bamako. Mali helped mediate the release of the hostages, who were seized in Algeria.

A German air force jet and crew were on standby in Mali's capital, ready to fly the freed Europeans on to Germany late Tuesday night or early Wednesday.

In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder welcomed the release as a victory against international terrorism and said the perpetrators "should not be allowed to escape unpunished."

Schroeder thanked the governments of Algeria and Mali for their help during the hostage crisis. The tourists were captured in Algeria, then taken across the border to Mali, whose government worked largely behind-the-scenes to win their freedom.

Schroeder said he and the two countries' presidents agreed "that the fight against international terrorism requires close and trusting cooperation between the respective authorities."

"I am happy that this worked in an exemplary way in this case," Schroeder said in a statement.

Hostages include tourists as young as 19 — both women. All the Europeans had set out last winter on desert safaris in Algeria, scene of more than a decade-long Islamic insurgency that has frequently seen civilians targeted.

"My wish for the captives is that they can now return quickly to their home countries and can recover as soon as possible from the hardship and stress, in the midst of their families, relatives and friends," Schroeder said.

In Europe, some families of the hostages were seen leaving their houses Monday under police escort, traveling with backpacks and other luggage for reunions with their loved ones.

News of the release came late Monday, after a day that started out with talk of imminent breakthroughs dragged out with hours of delay.

Finally, Seydou Sissouma, spokesman for Mali president Amadou Toumani Toure, announced shortly after dark that the 14 were in the hands of Mali authorities.