Man claiming to be spokesman for al-Qaeda says Philippe Verdon beheaded "in response" to French intervention in Mali.
A French foreign office spokesman said on Tuesday that Paris was
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 was 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 March 10 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.
In all 15 French nationals, including Verdon, are being held captive
in Africa, with AQIM claiming responsibility for six of the kidnappings.
Refusal to pay ransom
Verdon was seized on the night of November 24, 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.
The families denied that the two men were mercenaries or secret service agents.
AQIM swiftly claimed responsibility for the kidnappings and in August
last year a video showing Verdon describing the "difficult living
conditions" was released on a Mauritanian website.
The hostages' families have in recent weeks expressed growing fears
for their loved ones in the light of France's military actions in Mali.
Earlier Tuesday, Verdon's father Jean-Pierre Verdon complained that
the families were hearing nothing from the French authorities.
"We are in a total fog and it is impossible to live this way," he told RTL radio. "We have no information."
Asked about France's refusal to pay ransoms to kidnappers, Verdon
senior replied that the families had no say in such "decisions of
state".
Paris deployed forces in Mali on January 11 to help stop al-Qaeda
linked fighters who had controlled the north of the country since April
2012 from moving southward and threatening the capital Bamako.
Pockets of resistance
France now has more than 4,000 troops on the ground in Mali, of whom
about 1,200 are currently deployed in the northeast, carrying out
operations after driving out most of the rebels from the area.
France now has more than 4,000 troops on the ground in Mali, of whom
about 1,200 are currently deployed in the northeast, carrying out
operations after driving out most of the rebels from the area.
There are still pockets of resistance in areas such as Gao, which
have witnessed stray attacks and suicide bombings since the rebels fled.
The French troops in the region are backed up by African forces.
Soldiers from Chad, whose experience and training has made them key in
the French-led offensive, have also suffered casualties with at least 26
deaths.
On Tuesday the French army announced that 15 rebel fighters had been
killed in recent days in the northern Mali region of Gao, with the
seizure of a large cache of arms and ammunition.
The AQIM source cited by the Mauritanian news agency refused to
confirm reports that top rebels, Mokhtar Belmokhtar and Abdelhamid Abou
Zeid had been killed in Mali earlier this month.
France has been carrying out DNA tests to determine whether the rebel leaders are among those killed in recent fighting in Mali.
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