Kidnapped journalists free after 6-month ordeal

Two Spanish journalists who were freed after being kidnapped for six months by a rogue al Qaeda group in Syria were flown home yesterday, Spain’s defence ministry said.

Newspaper El Mundo reported earlier that its war correspondent, Javier Espinosa, made contact from Turkey, where he and photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova were under military protection.

A ministry spokesman said an aircraft was sent to pick up the journalists and was due in Madrid yesterday.