"Italian Sergio Cicala (L) and his wife...

...Philomene Kabore are pictured kneeling in front of five armed kidnappers against a desert background in this digitally altered image distributed by IntelCenter. Al Qaeda's North African wing said on Monday that it was responsible for the kidnapping this month of the Italian couple in Mauritania, Al Arabiya television reported. Salah Abu Mohamed, a spokesman for Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, said, in an audiotape recorded on December 27, that the seizure of the Italians was connected to the "crimes of the Italian government in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Reuters