Italian couple kidnapped in Mauritania: TV

The couple's driver, from Ivory Coast, also was missing, a local journalist said.
There was no official confirmation by the Mauritanian authorities but the couple's vehicle was found in an area where armed groups with links to al Qaeda are known to operate.
Local diplomats and a journalist said the attack appeared to be the the latest in a string of kidnappings in the region.
Italian state television said a 65-year-old man and his 39-year-old wife were kidnapped and their minibus found riddled with bullets, without citing its sources for the report.
Malian security forces have been put on high alert by their Mauritanian counterparts, who reported a kidnapping and warned that the gunmen may attempt to smuggle their hostages across the border, Malian government officials said.
Armed groups, some of them with links to al Qaeda's wing in the region, operate across the vast, remote desert zone, which includes eastern Mauritania, northern Mali and southern Algeria.
Analysts say local gangs, generally involved in the smuggling of cigarettes, weapons, drugs and people, are starting to consider kidnapping foreigners and selling them on to the Islamist group operating in the region.
Italy's foreign ministry has said it was checking the report. The pair were believed to be travelling to Mali; Kazinform cites China Daily. See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full version.