Nouakchott, 30 Nov. (AKI) - Three Spanish aid workers have been kidnapped in Mauritania by militants linked to Al-Qaeda, Spain's interior minister said on Monday. "It all suggests that it is a kidnapping. If so, and I believe it is, it all appears to be a kidnapping by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. It wouldn't be the first time they have kidnapped European and North American aid workers in that area," said interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba quoted by Spanish media.

The aid workers belong to a non-governmental organisation called Barcelona Accio Solidaria or BAS.

However, the African news agency APA on Monday said that the total number of kidnapped workers was four not three, as Spanish media suggested.

The aid workers - identified as Albert Vilalta, Alicia Gamez and Roque Pascual - were kidnapped near the town of Chelkhett Legtouta, located 150 kilometres from the capital Nouakchott as their convoy was travelling to Dakar, in Senegal.

According to Spain's Cadena Ser, Pascual and Vilalta are businessmen, while Gamez works at a court in the government of Catalonia, where Barcelona is located.

Spanish media also said that the Mauritanian army had been deployed on the border of Algeria and Mali to prevent militants from bringing the kidnap victims across the border to Al-Qaeda camps in the north of Mali.