NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) – The Islamist Boko Haram sect was negotiating the release of two Western hostages killed during a failed rescue bid in Nigeria, said a spokesman cited by the Nouakchott news agency.

“The kidnappers had established contact with the family of the British hostage and had begun negotiations around the payment of a five million euro ransom and the freedom of certain prisoners,” the spokesman said Saturday.

The online news agency ANI often publishes reliable information on radical Islamist groups in west Africa and in December released a video in which gunmen threatened to kill one of the hostages if their demands were not met.

The spokesman for a splinter cell of Boko Haram — who says his group was involved in the kidnapping — added that the family of the Italian hostage had also entered the negotiations in which both families had been given evidence the hostages were still alive.

He said the kidnappers had “proved their flexibility: They accepted to add the Italian to the agreement without supplementary demands and gave up their demand that detained Islamists in the region be freed”.

He said the parties had finally agreed on a ransom of 1.2 million euros, and no government intervention.

“A tiny part of this ransom had already been paid a few days earlier and the rest was to come,” he added.

After being kidnapped about a year ago, Italian engineer Franco Lamolinara, 48, and his British colleague Chris McManus, 28, were killed during a failed rescue bid authorised by British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday.

Confusion remains over who was responsible for the kidnapping, and Boko Haram, blamed for scores of deadly attacks in recent months, has denied responsibility.