Safe but psychologically devastated: Freed hostages return home to Italy

Two Italians who were held hostage by Islamic State militants in Libya have arrived home after being released in a raid. Gino Pollicardo, 55, and Filippo Calcagno, 65, returned to Rome after being freed from in an assault by local fighters on an IS hideout in Sabratha on Friday. They were met by relatives at Rome’s Ciampino airport in the early hours and were whisked away to be debriefed by Italy’s foreign ministry and intelligence services. "We are free and physically OK, but psychologically we are devastated,“ said a handwritten note written by Mr Pollicardo.

This is not the time to force things, this is the time for good sense and composure.

Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi

The pair were among four Italians working for construction company Bonatti who were kidnapped last July near an industrial complex in the city of Mellitah. The two other captives, Fausto Piano, 47, and Salvatore Failla, 60, were allegedly murdered by IS during a firefight on Wednesday between the jihadists and local militia fighters. Other reports said the pair were shot dead shortly before the clashes. Their bodies have been taken to Tripoli for eventual repatriation. The killings have brought calls for Italy to send special forces to its former colony, which has been in political disarray since former dictator Col Muammar Gaddafi was deposed.

The Italian state has failed. The liberation of the two hostages was paid for with my husband’s blood

Mr Failla’s widow Rosalba

italy hostages