Spain says it is treating as credible an audio tape from an Islamic group which claims to have kidnapped three Spanish aid workers in Mauritania.

The admission by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was made in a tape and passed onto an Arabic television network.

The trio was abducted last month on the road between the capital, Nouakchott and the coastal city of Nouadhibou. Gunmen also seized a French national three days earlier in Mali’s remote east.

Spain’s foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said so far that the group has not made any demands but it says it will contact the French and Spanish governments.

The same group is believed to be behind the murder in June of British hostage Edwin Dyer as well as an American teacher.

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