FRENCH JOURNALISTS ASSINATED IN MALI

Two French journalists were killed on a desert track 12km (seven miles) east of Kidal. One received two bullets, the other three.

RFI's Claude Verlon, 58, and Ghislaine Dupont, 51, were abducted on Saturday after interviewing a local leader.

Mr Fabius called the killers "terrorist groups who reject democracy".

Kidal is at the epicentre of a political dispute between ethnic Tuareg nomads and the rest of the population of Mali, who are black Africans.

• There are 200 French troops and 200 UN peacekeepers as well as a Malian army base in Kidal.
• Radio France Internationale (RFI) said Mr Verlon and Ms Dupont were on their second assignment there, having travelled to the town in July to cover the first round of the presidential election.
• Ambeiry Ag Rhissa, a local official of the MNLA ethnic Tuareg separatist group, said the pair had just left his house after interviewing him when they were kidnapped. 

He said he did not see how many kidnappers were there, but other sources said four men forced the journalists into a beige truck which was then driven off into the surrounding desert.

The BBC's Mark Doyle says one detail given by the French foreign minister was that the car used for the kidnapping, found a just a few metres from the journalists' bodies, was locked.

Source: BBC...More...