Two Italian women aid workers and their two Iraqi colleagues abducted in Baghdad have been freed after "difficult" negotiations, the Italian Prime Minister Mr Silvio Berlusconi told a delighted parliament this evening.
News of the release was greeted with joy across Italy, which had been transfixed by the fate of Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, who were seized on September 7th.
"At long last this affair is over," a delighted Mr Berlusconi said to loud cheers in the lower house of parliament. "Right this minute the girls are in a taxi heading to Baghdad airport after being handed over to the Red Cross one hour ago," he said.
"They will be in Rome tonight and will be able to hug their families."
The Italian Red Cross said the plane carrying the two women would arrive in Rome's Ciampino airport at 10.30 p.m.
Al Jazeera television aired footage of the women after they were released.
It showed them wearing black veils, which they later lifted, smiling and chatting.
A Kuwaiti daily said earlier that the women's captors had agreed to free the hostages for a $1-million ransom.
In Rome, the prime minister's office declined to comment on the report, but Mr Berlusconi told parliament the hostages had been freed following tireless, behind-the-scenes manoeuvring.
He said the breakthrough came early today "after a night which led us to a very difficult choice with two lines of pursuit which could have been mutually conflictual".
He gave no further details.