Freed Spanish hostage set to land in Algerian air base

ALGIERS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - A plane carrying Spanish hostage Gilbert Navarro, who was kidnapped in North Africa on Jan. 17, was expected to land in Algeria's Boufarik air base, Algerian state media reported on Tuesday.

His expected arrival at the Algerian air base comes after a Tuareg rebel alliance in northern Mali said late on Monday they had released Navarro.

Spain's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a Spanish man had been kidnapped in North Africa.

El Pais newspaper reported that the man was kidnapped in southern Algeria by an Islamist group and taken to Mali, though the Foreign Ministry did not confirm that information.

In a post on X, one of the leaders of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) said Spanish national Gilbert Navarro "kidnapped in Algeria a few days ago" and transported by his captors to north Mali had been freed by FLA forces on Monday.

An FLA spokesperson, Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, said on X that the FLA had freed Navarro, who was in good health, and that more details would follow.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spain is in a dispute between Morocco and Algeria over the Western Sahara, which was controlled by Spain until 1975 and is now claimed by Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks its independence.

(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Additional reporting by Inti Landauro in Madrid, Menna Alaa El-Din and Jaidaa Taha in Cairo; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Sharon Singleton and Sandra Maler)