(Adds details, ambassador quotes) KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, March 19 (Reuters) - An Italian journalist kidnapped in Afghanistan was handed over to an Italian hospital on Monday after two weeks in captivity and days after his driver was executed. La Repubblica reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo was in good health, under the care of the Italian aid hospital Emergency in the violence-racked southern province of Helmand, Italian ambassador Ettore Francesco Sequi told reporters in Kabul. "(He is in) very good health," Sequi told reporters in English. "He's in very good physical condition." He said Mastrogiacomo would talk to reporters in Kabul on Tuesday and refused to say if a ransom had been paid. Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah and the Italian government said Mastrogiacomo had been freed, but details remained sketchy. "My head is still spinning but I am happy. I managed to get out of the situation and I thank everybody who helped me," Mastrogiacomo told a TV channel owned by La Repubblica after his release. "This is the most wonderful moment of my life." He said he had been "bound hand and foot" by his captors and moved to 15 different locations "as small as sheep pens, in the middle of the desert". NATO troops have launched their biggest offensive yet in Helmand, in what analysts say is the crunch year for both the Taliban and the Afghan government and its Western alliance. Dadullah told Reuters by satellite phone from an undisclosed location the reporter had been freed after Afghan authorities released five senior Taliban officials, including his brother. CRYING WIFE Mastrogiacomo's wife Luisella told him by phone from Italy of the public shows of support during his captivity -- including a petition with about 96,000 signatures -- and of Italian officials' efforts to free him. "Luisella told him of Italy's role and he started to cry, to sob, he was really moved," his brother Alessandro said. The Taliban told Reuters on Sunday they had handed the journalist and his translator to tribal leaders, but threatened to recapture him unless the government met all their demands. At that stage, the insurgents said the government had freed two of three rebels it had asked for. Mastrogiacomo was accused of spying for British forces and Taliban officials said his driver was killed on Thursday after a Taliban court convicted him of spying. Some analysts say that move, yet to be independently verified, was aimed at increasing pressure on Italy. Italian journalist, Gabriele Torsello, was kidnapped in Helmand in October and held for three weeks before being released unharmed.
