French hostages probably murdered: military

Two French hostages in Niger were probably murdered by their captors after French special forces joined a failed attempt to free them according to a military spokesman in Paris.

The gang were intercepted near the border with Mali. The spokesman said three kidnappers were killed.

The pair had been snatched by gunmen hours earlier while at a bar-restaurant in the capital, Niamey.

French media have reported that the two were 25 years old and from northern France. One had gone to Niger for the wedding of the other who worked for a charity there.

Their abduction brought to eight the number of French nationals taken in Niger. A former Malian government minister said it looked like the work of al Qaeda’s north African wing which operates throughout the Sahara desert.

Paris sent special forces after five other nationals were kidnapped in Niger by ‘al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb’ last September.

The French Interior Ministry said the group is the single greatest danger to French interests and citizens at home and abroad.

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