Kidnap victims freed in Georgia

TBILISI, Georgia - Two men whose kidnapping sparked a tit-for-tat abduction of a group of villagers have been freed by their captors in Georgia.

Colonel Tamaz Tamazashvili, the chief of police in the Kakhetia region near the border with Chechnya, said security official Mamuka Arabuli, 31, and 79-year-old David Badzherashvili had been held for more than a month, The Associated Press reported.

He did not say whether a ransom had been paid or any other conditions had been met for their release.

The two were believed to have been kidnapped by members of the Kistin minority, close relatives of the Chechens, who inhabit the region.

The area includes the rugged Pankisi gorge on the Chechen border, where in addition to the Kistins about 7,000 refugees from the war between separatist rebels and Russian federal forces in Chechnya have taken refuge.

Residents of Arabuli's village, Laliskhuri, grabbed seven Kistins off a public bus on Friday to retaliate for Arabuli's abduction.

The villagers, who were armed with hunting rifles and other guns, said they would not let the Kistins go until all captives being held in the Pankisi Gorge are freed.

From five to 10 people are believed to be held there, including two Spanish businessmen who were abducted outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi in November.

A businessman from the United Arab Emirates and the younger brother of Georgian soccer star Kakha Kaladze, who plays for AC Milan, have also been kidnapped in Georgia this year. Their whereabouts are not known.