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VIENNA — An ultimatum set by Islamist militants holding two Austrian hostages expired Sunday with no official word from the captors. Austrian authorities said earlier they believed they had more time to pursue the pair’s release.
Al-Qaeda in Islamic North Africa had given authorities until midnight to release some of its members in jails in Tunisia and Algeria in exchange for Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber. The couple disappeared while on vacation in Tunisia last month.
Joerg Haider, governor of the Austria’s Carinthia province, said Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy’s son, Saif, had held intensive negotiations with the militants and was optimistic for their release.
