Niger: Al-Qaeda claims abduction of two French nationals killed

Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two French hostages in Niger and said they had been killed during the assault of French special forces to liberate them, in an audiotape broadcast, Thursday, January 13 , by Al Jazeera. According to sources Malian, French helicopter gunships fired, Saturday, Jan.

8, the convoy of vehicles from the kidnappers in northern Mali, about fifteen kilometers from the Malian town Tabankor (35 km south of Menaka) where charred wreckage had been found. Among the wreckage, "a big 4 × 4 vehicle registered in Benin," according to an administrative authority in northern Mali.

In Niamey, witnesses had said the French had been taken aboard such a vehicle. The French Defence Ministry has, meanwhile, said that people in the uniform of the Nigerian police had "fought" against French forces. After the assault, had been found dead, with the hostages, "terrorists and persons wearing police uniform Niger.

"A survey to establish what was the reason for their presence in the vehicles we've arrested", said the defense minister, Alain Juppe, denying any "blunder" French. Beyond the course of the attack, many mysteries remain about the conditions of the two French hostages, Vincent and Antoine de Léocour Delory, both aged 25, abducted Friday in Niger.

Their bodies were "both constrained" and wearing bullet holes, said on Thursday the French Ministry of Defence. According to preliminary results of an autopsy on the body, conducted under the authority of the Paris prosecutor's office after they were repatriated to France on Wednesday, one of the hostages was shot point blank in the head, suggesting an execution .

"The body of the second bore several bullet wounds and burns large," the ministry spokesman Laurent Teisseire. The reasons for his death is still being determined, according to police sources that do not exclude the hypothesis of a shot that hit the tank of the car in which he stood. The French defense minister, Alain Juppe, had said they had been "executed" by their captors.

• Al Qaida 'behind Niger kidnapping' - The Press Association (09/01/2011)
• Two French hostages killed in Niger rescue attempt (09/01/2011)
• France: al-Qaida involved in Africa kidnapping - Washington Post (09/01/2011)
• 2 French nationals kidnapped in Niger's capital (08/01/2011)
• Search on for 2 Westerners kidnapped at bar in Niger (08/01/2011)