Italy's FM insists "no ransom" paid for women's release

ROME, Sept 29 (AFP) - Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini insisted Wednesday "absolutely no ransom" had been paid for the release of the two Italian aid workers set free by their adbudctors in Iraq the day before.
Frattini said in an interview with RAI state radio that Italy had simply used its "great system of contacts" in the Arab world, which had "made the kidnappers understand concretely what they were dealing with: a great country, Italy, loved and esteemed by the Arab world".
"That was our only ransom," the minister added.
Rumours have circulated that Italy had paid a ransom for the release of Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, both 29, who were released by their kidnappers on Wednesday and flown back to Rome.
One report had suggested a million dollars was handed over to free the women, snatched on September 7 from the Baghdad offices of the Italian based humanitarian organisation for which they worked, Bridge to Baghdad.