Ex-hostage says no plan to return to Syria

(ANSA) - Rome, March 23 - One of two young aid workers kidnapped and held for months in Syria by Islamic extremists said Monday she has no plans to return there, even as reports swirled to the contrary.
    In fact, Italy's foreign ministry repeated a warning that Italian citizens should not to travel to the war-torn country.
    That was in part triggered by reports that one of the two former hostages, Vanessa Marzullo, had said she and her fellow captive Greta Ramelli planned to return to Syria.
    But Ramelli told ANSA that she had "no intention of returning to Syria".
    She said that she planned instead to "intensify my voluntary activities in Italy".
    Rumours have suggested that the Italian government paid a ransom for the release of Ramelli and Marzullo, who were freed in mid-January after almost six months in captivity.
    The two young women had arrived in Syria July 28 to volunteer on health and water-related humanitarian aid projects, and were abducted just three days later.
    They have said they were held in various prisons in northern Syria.
    Their jailers always covered their faces, but never threatened to kill them.
    The conditions of their captivity were tough but bearable, and the women said they were not abused or subjected to violence.