A Swede held hostage by Al-Qaeda in Mali since 2011 has been freed and will be returning home, the Swedish foreign ministry said on Monday.

"It is with great pleasure that I can announce that Johan Gustafsson has been released and can return to Sweden," Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement. Gustafsson was abducted in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011 together with South African national Stephen McGowan and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke. 

Rijke was freed in April 2015 by French special forces. The Swedish foreign ministry refused to comment on McGowan's fate.

Source: AFP