Cologne: Freed hostages arrive in Germany

The nine Germans, four Swiss and one Dutchman flew in from Mali’s capital Bamako, where they had been handed over to their countries’authorities in the presence of the mediators who secured their release. The 14 had travelled with the mediators in a convoy of five four-wheel-drive from Tessalit in northern Mali, near the border with Algeria where they were abducted in February and March by suspected Islamic extremists.