A French hostage has been executed in Mali, a man claiming to be a spokesman for Al-Qaeda in North Africa told Mauritania’s ANI news agency on Wednesday.
A French foreign office spokesman said they were trying to verify the report of the killing of Philippe Verdon, who was kidnapped in November 2011, adding that ‘we don't know at the moment’ whether it is reliable.
The private Mauritanian news agency reported that someone calling himself Al-Qairawani and claiming to be a spokesman for Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group told them that the ‘spy’ Verdon had been executed ‘on 10 March in response to France’s intervention in Northern Mali.’
‘The French President (Francois) Hollande is responsible for the lives of the other French hostages,’ he warned.
Verdon was seized on the night of 24 November, 2011 along with Serge Lazarevic. According to their families the two men had been on a business trip and were kidnapped from their hotel in Hombori, northeast Mali.
Paris deployed forces in Mali on 11 January.
A French foreign office spokesman said they were trying to verify the report of the killing of Philippe Verdon, who was kidnapped in November 2011, adding that ‘we don't know at the moment’ whether it is reliable.
The private Mauritanian news agency reported that someone calling himself Al-Qairawani and claiming to be a spokesman for Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group told them that the ‘spy’ Verdon had been executed ‘on 10 March in response to France’s intervention in Northern Mali.’
‘The French President (Francois) Hollande is responsible for the lives of the other French hostages,’ he warned.
Verdon was seized on the night of 24 November, 2011 along with Serge Lazarevic. According to their families the two men had been on a business trip and were kidnapped from their hotel in Hombori, northeast Mali.
Paris deployed forces in Mali on 11 January.