LOC17:18
14:18 GMT
PARIS, Jan 10 (KUNA) -- French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said here
Monday that suspected Al-Qaeda militants "coldly eliminated" two French
hostages they had earlier kidnapped once Niger security forces started to
pursue the kidnappers and their hostages.
Three Nigerian Gendarmes were killed in the operation on Sunday, and an
officer was wounded but French forces joined the rescue attempt in a second
phase of the operation that left almost all the kidnappers dead.
Some questions have been raised as to who could have killed the two
hostages and there have been cases of death by friendly fire in the past. But
officials here indicated that it seems the two French were victims of summary
execution.
Fillon said that French authorities had weighed the risks and advantages of
a rescue operation and he thanked the Niger authorities for the efforts to
free the nationals, two young men aged 25.
"But the hostage takers, as soon as they saw they were being pursued,
coldly eliminated the hostages, according to the first elements at my disposal,
" Fillon told journalists at a New Years event at his Matignon Residence.
"Of course, the enquiry will be broadened and all the results will be
communicated to the families," he affirmed.
He urged French people to remember to exercise "vigilance" while travelling
in the area where the kidnappings took place and where five other French
people have been held since September by the Al-Qaeda for and Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM) group, which has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
The same group murdered a 78-year-old French man last July after a botched
rescue attempt by French and Mauritanian forces.
"French people in the Sahel zone must double up on prudence," he said,
adding that France would stand up to terrorist threats.
Defence Minister Alain Juppe has flown to Niger to meet officials there on
Monday and "will take a message of firmness of the French and its involvement
for the safety of the expatriate community in the face of terrorism," the
Prime Minister said. (end)
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KUNA 101718 Jan 11NNNN