Al-Qaida has taken responsibility for the November kidnapping of a Frenchman and three Spaniards working for the Catalan organization Barcelona-Acciò Solidaria. They were seized in Mali and Mauritania by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), an offshoot of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida. Claiming responsibility for the action via a video-tape, a spokesman announced that France…
French security agent kidnapped by insurgents in Somalia last month said he escaped while his captors slept, then walked five hours through one of the most dangerous cities in the world to safety at the country’s presidential palace. Marc Aubriere, who was seized along with another agent in July 14, denied reports that he killed…
Hope that talks with Islamist rebels in Somalia might lead to the rapid release of two French agents has receded amid conflicting reports over the status of negotiations. The pair, French defence officials on a mission to support Somalia’s transition government, were seized from a Mogadishu hotel room and are believed to be in the…
Two French nationals kidnapped after gunmen stormed into a hotel in Mogadishu are now being held by a Somali al-Qaeda-linked group, according to reports. The two French security advisers will be tried under Sharia law, claims an official from their captors, the Islamic al-Shabab militia. The unnamed spokesperson said they would be tried for spying…
al-Qaeda’s North African wing has threatened to kill a British tourist taken hostage in the Sahara unless the radical cleric and terrorism suspect Abu Qatada is released within 20 days. The kidnapped man was among four European tourists seized in January after their convoy was ambushed near the border of Niger and Mali, where they…
