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Al-Qaeda deadline looms for French hostage in Mali
[Maghrebia] Malian authorities reportedly remain optimistic about the fate of French hostage Pierre Camatte, even though the deadline set for his execution by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb expires on Saturday (February 20th). "We have not lost hope at all," AFP quoted a Malian official as saying on Thursday. Mali has refused to release four jailed AQIM terrorists in exchange for the life of the hostage. Al-Qaeda, which claimed responsibility for kidnapping Camatte in Mali and abducting three Spanish aid workers and an Italian couple in Mauritania, is holding the hostages in the northern Mali desert.
Posted by: Fred 2010-02-20
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=290938