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French Defense Minister travels to Niger to discuss hostage killings


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French Defense Minister travels to Niger to discuss hostage killings

2011-01-11 03:22:05 GMT+7 (ICT)

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- French Defense Minister Alain Juppe on Monday traveled to Niger to discuss the killing of two French hostages, France 24 news reported.

Juppe led the French envoy that will meet with Niger's senior officials for talks over the deaths of the French nationals that occurred during a failed French-Niger rescue mission near the Mali border over the weekend.

The two French nationals were abducted on Friday night in a restaurant in Niger's capital Niamey. Four armed men wearing turbans kidnapped the French citizens from the popular dinner.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but French and Niger troops followed a lead and conducted a rescue mission on Saturday. The soldiers engaged in a firefight with the kidnappers after the rescue failed.

Three Niger soldiers were killed as well as some kidnappers. The bodies of the two French nationals were found after the shooting. The kidnapping and subsequent failed operation took place in the northern Sahel region.

The two 25-year-old hostages were identified as Antoine de Leocour and Vincent Delory. De Leocour was engaged to a local woman and was to marry in one week. His best friend Delory was to be his best man.

French authorities believe that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al Qaeda’s North Africa cell, was involved in the kidnapping and failed rescue operation. It was the second failed rescue mission in six months in the region.

In July 2010, AQIM executed another French hostage, 78-year-old Michel Germeneau, in retaliation for the killing of six of its militants during a failed rescue mission in the Sahel by French and Mauritanian forces.

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-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-01-11

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