Two Mauritanians who were kidnapped in Mali along with three Chinese citizens were freed on Tuesday, a source close to the Mauritanian government said.
The five men were taken during an attack on a construction site in Mali's southwest, not far from the Mauritanian border, on July 18, according to the Malian army.
The two Mauritanians "were freed this afternoon by their captors and are now in the hands of the Mauritanian authorities," an official at the ministry of communication requesting anonymity told AFP.
No information was given about the status of the three Chinese captives.
The official said the Mauritanians were "in good health", but did not give further details on the circumstances under which they were freed or the identity of the kidnappers.
A Malian army official, who requested anonymity, said at the time of the attack that the kidnap victims were working on road construction in the region.
The army said on social media that the attackers had made off with five pick-up trucks, and also destroyed equipment including a crane and dump trucks belonging to Chinese construction firm Covec, and Mauritanian road-building company ATTM.
Mauritania's Al-Akhbar news agency reported that gunmen arrived on motorbikes, burning equipment as well as fuel tanks before withdrawing with the captives. AFP could not independently verify this account.
Mali has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that first broke out in the north of the country in 2012 before spreading to the centre and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes, while the economic impact on one of the world's poorest countries has been devastating.
Abductions have been frequent, both of Malians and foreigners.
Five Catholic Malians were kidnapped on June 21, though they were subsequently released.
French journalist Olivier Dubois, who was abducted in northern Mali on April 8, has yet to be freed.
