Bamako, Mali ? Islamic extremists freed 14 European tourists Monday, six months after they were kidnapped by an al-Qaida-linked group in the Sahara Desert.

The negotiated release ended an ordeal that began in southern Algeria, where the militants snatched a total of 32 tourists making desert safaris without guides. After some of the tourists were freed in a raid, the militants fled with their remaining captives into neighboring Mali.

The 14 — nine Germans, four Swiss and a Dutchman — were turned over to government officials late Monday, said Seydou Sissouma, spokesman for Mali’s President Amadou Toure, whose government has been negotiating for the releases.

“Today is a great day for us, a great day for Germany,” German Deputy Foreign Minister Juergen Chrobog, who was in Mali to aid negotiations, told ZDF television. He credited the “great diplomatic skill of the Malian president” for securing their freedom but declined to give further details.

The freed hostages were to spend the night in the far northern desert city of Gao, before flying to Mali’s capital, Bamako, early today. They were expected in Germany within a day.

Mali government officials refused immediate comment on the hostages’ conditions, or any aspect of their captivity. Authorities have said nothing publicly about ransom or any other demands of the abductors.

Algerian authorities say the kidnappers are linked to the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, generally seen as the less bloody of two main Islamic extremist movements behind a more than decade-long insurgency in Algeria.

The Salafist group has been linked to the al-Qaida terror organization.

The kidnappings took place in mid-February, when the 32 Europeans were trekking in seven different groups through the desert, camping and riding motorcycles and four-by-four vehicles.

One victim, a German woman, died of heat stroke and was buried by her abductors in June.