Awwal 01, 1432, Feb 04, 2011, SPA -- An Italian tourist has been abducted by suspected Islamic militants in the North African country's remote southern desert, AP quoted the country's official news agency as saying on Friday. The woman was heading toward the southern town of Alidena when militants armed with automatic weapons began following her in all-terrain vehicles, the APS news agency said. The group captured the tourist but released her guide and a cook. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is active in the area and has often abducted foreign tourists. The Italian Foreign Ministry said it could not immediately confirm the report, which did not identify the woman. The APS report said the captors allowed her to call the agency that organized her trip to tell them she had been abducted. Al-Qaida's North African branch operates throughout the vast arid region, from Mauritania to Chad. It has its roots in an extremist Islamic group in Algeria that brokered an alliance with the terror network in 2006. Since then, AQIM has kidnapped more than a dozen Europeans including tourists and aid workers. -- SPA
