Five charged over Afghan kidnap

A public celebration has been held in Milan after her release

Afghan officials say five people have been charged in connection with the kidnapping of an Italian aid worker who was freed on Thursday.

Police are still looking for Temur Shah, the man suspected of running the kidnap gang.

Clementina Cantoni was held for more than three weeks after armed men dragged her from a car in Kabul.

She has said that she will continue aid work and will go back to Afghanistan but not in the near future.

A spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry said they hoped the five people charged with the kidnapping would lead them to Temur Shah.

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He said the five, who include Temur Shah's uncle and brother-in-law, had been handed over to an intelligence agency for further interrogation.

Italian newspapers have reported that Ms Cantoni identified Temur Shah from photographs shown to her by investigators.

The Afghan government denies that any concessions were made in order to secure Ms Cantoni's release.

I will go back to Afghanistan, perhaps in a year or two, to see my friends but not in the near future Clementina Cantoni

"I can tell you that not one penny was paid to the kidnappers and no deal was made," Interior Minister Ali Ahmed Jalali is quoted as saying by AFP.

Italian newspapers have said that hundreds of thousands of dollars had been paid to the kidnappers

Celebration

A public celebration was held in Clementina Cantoni's hometown Milan for her release.

She has told journalists that would definitely continue her aid work.

"I will go back to Afghanistan, perhaps in a year or two, to see my friends but not in the near future," the Associated Press quotes her as saying.

Ms Cantoni had been in Afghanistan since September 2003, in charge of a programme supporting more than 10,000 widows and their children.