MSF aid workers kidnapped in Darfur freed

ROME (Reuters) - Four aid workers with French-based medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) who were kidnapped in Sudan's Darfur region have been released, MSF Italy said on Friday.

MSF identified them as a Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor, a French coordinator and a Sudanese national. "The kidnappers called us... (the hostages) were released an hour ago," Kostas Moschochoritis, head of MSF Italy, told Reuters.

The Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed the release.

The Sudanese government had earlier said it had located the aid workers and was in contact with the kidnappers.

The three Western workers from MSF's Belgian arm were seized with two Sudanese on Wednesday as tension rose in Sudan following the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over alleged war crimes in Darfur.

MSF in Belgium had initially said the two Sudanese were quickly released, but it later emerged that one was still being held along with the three foreigners.

MSF Italy's Moschochoritis said no money was paid for the hostages' release. "I can absolutely guarantee that no ransom was paid," he said.

Sudan shut down 16 aid organisations after the ICC decision, saying they had helped the court in The Hague, an accusation aid groups deny. Two arms of MSF were among those asked to leave, although MSF Belgium was not among them.

(Reporting by Massimiliano Di Giorgio; writing by Silvia Aloisi; editing by Andrew Roche)