Italian hostage in Philippines freed after 6 months

MANILA, July 12 (Reuters) - An Italian Red Cross official held hostage by Muslim rebels in the Philippines for nearly six months was freed on Sunday, a senior official said.

Eugenio Vagni, 61, was brought to an army base on the southern island of Jolo by a local politician who had been mediating with the kidnappers, rebels from the Abu Sayyaf group, said Senator Richard Gordon, the head of the Philippine Red Cross.

Vagni and two other officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross were taken hostage on Jan 15 when they were inspecting a sanitation project at a prison on Jolo. The others, Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba and Swiss national Andreas Notter, were freed in April. (Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)