Freed Italian hostage Clementina Cantoni said on her arrival in Rome on Friday that she was treated well during her 24 days as a hostage in Afghanistan.

"Thanks to everyone," said the 32-year-old aid worker Cantoni, who was welcomed at the Rome's Ciampino airport by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi along with her parents and brother.

She said, "Everything's OK. I was treated well."

Cantoni, who was in Afghanistan with the Care International organization, said her joy at being free again was tempered by the thought that other people were still being held hostage in Afghanistan.

Cantoni was hauled from her car by a gang of armed men on May 16 in Kabul after being forced to pull over. She was then dragged into the kidnappers' white Toyota before being driven off.

She was held by a gang headed by Timor Shah, a former Kabul district police chief during the Talaban regime.

In exchange for the Italian's release, Afghan authorities released Timor Shah's mother, arrested in connection with another kidnapping, and three other members of his band. According to Italian dailies, a ransom was also paid.

Cantoni, who comes from Milan, was the first Italian to be taken hostage in Afghanistan. She had been in Afghanistan for three years and before her abduction was working to help Afghanistan widows and their children.

(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2005)