Austria said Monday it had not paid any ransom to secure the release of two hostages held in Mali for eight months as the media and far-right politicians questioned the official version of events.

`Firmness, persistence and diplomacy` made possible the freeing of Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber last Friday, Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik told reporters.

Austria was not `the victim of blackmail and did not pay a ransom,` she said, calling on the media not to disseminate `half truths`.

Plassnik`s comments came after an Austrian military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Standard newspaper a ransom was paid to secure the pair`s release from an Al Qaeda-linked gang but not directly by Austria.

The officer did not say where the ransom came from but newspapers suggested that a foundation headed by Saif Khadafi, son of Libyan leader Moamer Khadafi, had been involved. The same organisation also played a role in freeing of German and Austrian hostages kidnapped in the Sahara in 2003.

Austrian media also picked up criticism of Vienna in Algerian newspapers which claimed two three million euros had been paid and that extremist groups had accordingly been strengthened.

`Why do you not tell the truth, Madame Minister?` asked the popular daily Oesterreich.

Two far-right parties are to raise the issue at the next session of the parliament.

The 51-year-old Ebner and 44-year-old Kloiber, desert hiking enthusiasts, disappeared while on holiday in southern Tunisia on February 22 as they were driving in their four-wheel-drive vehicle.

A few weeks later, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for their kidnapping.

The hostages were moved to northern Mali -- a region that borders Algeria -- where the kidnappers initially demanded the release of a number of Islamic extremists imprisoned in Algeria and Tunisia.

The pair were due to be reunited with their families on Monday after undergoing checks in a military hopsital in Vienna.