Al-Qaeda’s North African offshoot has disclosed to a Mauritanian ANI news agency that it has killed a French businessman captured in Mali in 2011 long before the conflict.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) told ANI that it killed Philippe Verdon on 10 March just two weeks ago in retaliation for France’s intervention in Mali.
Mr. Verdon and another Frenchman were seized in the town of Hombori north of Mali close to the mountainous and the desert area as they were conducting their business.
France intervened in Mali in January after al-Qaeda-linked militants threatened to march to the capital and take control of it after a coup d’état has been staged by Capt. Amadou Sanogo last year.
Meanwhile, the French foreign ministry said it was trying to verify the report by the news agency’s information from the Mauritanian Capital Nouakchott.
Local reporters said that Philippe Verdon and Serge Lazarevic were said to be on a business trip when they were captured at their hotel in November 2011.
AQIM claimed it was behind the kidnapping and published photos of the pair in captivity last year which seems the group had anticipated France’s intervention long before the conflict.
Besides Mr. Verdon, an estimated total of 14 French nationals are being held by Islamist groups in Africa ion various locations.
France currently has 4,000 troops in Mali, who are assisting thousands of Malian, Chadian and other African Union troops to combat the militants.
The French government intervened when a coalition of Islamist and separatist rebels, which had seized the north of the country last year, threatened to move on the capital Bamako.
The Islamist groups had taken over major cities, including Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu, and imposed strict Islamic law in the aftermath of a coup in March 2012.
Since the intervention began, this territory has been recaptured but fighting is still continuing in Desert Mountains.
France plans to withdraw its troops from Mali next month, with West African countries expected to take over in the run-up to elections due in July.
Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News
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