France: al-Qaida to blame for deaths
Source: Agencies |
January 11, 2011, Tuesday
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FRANCE'S defense minister said al-Qaida-linked militants were most likely behind the kidnapping of two French nationals in the west African nation of Niger, who were found dead following a rescue attempt that involved French and Niger troops.
Alain Juppe also defended the decision to launch the rescue mission, saying that doing nothing would have signaled to the kidnappers "that France doesn't fight terrorism."
He said on Sunday there was no conclusive proof that the two 25-year-old friends were killed by their captors, but "everything leads us to believe ... that they were executed," by their kidnappers.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has blamed kidnappers for the deaths of Antoine de Leocour and Vincent Delory. De Leocour was to marry a local woman in a week, and Delory was to be his best man.
The two were abducted by four armed men in a restaurant in Niamey, the Niger capital, on Friday night.
Their bodies were found on Saturday at the Niger-Mali border after a skirmish involving French forces in which some of the kidnap gang were killed, officials said.
Juppe refused to say what effect the deaths would have on efforts to secure the release of five other French nationals, kidnapped in September in Niger and believed to be held in Mali. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for that kidnapping.
The mayor of the village of Linselles, where both victims came from, said that de Leocour had lived in Niger for two years working with a non-governmental organization.
"The village is doubly shocked," Mayor Jacques Remory said. "First by learning that the two people kidnapped were from Linselles and -second when (we) were told they were dead."
Alain Juppe also defended the decision to launch the rescue mission, saying that doing nothing would have signaled to the kidnappers "that France doesn't fight terrorism."
He said on Sunday there was no conclusive proof that the two 25-year-old friends were killed by their captors, but "everything leads us to believe ... that they were executed," by their kidnappers.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has blamed kidnappers for the deaths of Antoine de Leocour and Vincent Delory. De Leocour was to marry a local woman in a week, and Delory was to be his best man.
The two were abducted by four armed men in a restaurant in Niamey, the Niger capital, on Friday night.
Their bodies were found on Saturday at the Niger-Mali border after a skirmish involving French forces in which some of the kidnap gang were killed, officials said.
Juppe refused to say what effect the deaths would have on efforts to secure the release of five other French nationals, kidnapped in September in Niger and believed to be held in Mali. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for that kidnapping.
The mayor of the village of Linselles, where both victims came from, said that de Leocour had lived in Niger for two years working with a non-governmental organization.
"The village is doubly shocked," Mayor Jacques Remory said. "First by learning that the two people kidnapped were from Linselles and -second when (we) were told they were dead."
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