Rome - Three western hostages who work for the international aid organization Doctors Without Borders have yet to be released but are expected to be freed soon, Italian media reports said Saturday.

The Italian government retracted an announcement, made late Friday by the country's foreign minister in Rome, that the release had already happened.

A spokeswoman in Paris for the French-based Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF,) as the organization is formally known, did not confirm the release.

The government in Khartoum located the kidnappers despite their constant flight from one place to another, and negotiated with them to release the hostages, the Italian report said.

The three Westerners - a Canadian nurse, an Italian physician and a French coordinator - were kidnapped late Wednesday or early Thursday. They had worked in Serif Umra in the province of North Darfur for the Belgian section of MSF. (dpa)