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| Africa North |
| French say 2 journalists killed in north Mali |
| 2013-11-03 |
| Two French radio journalists were kidnapped by gunmen in northern Mali on Saturday and killed hours later, the French Foreign Ministry said. The foreign ministry said the bodies of Claude Verlon and Ghislaine Dupont had been found. Earlier, radio station RFI confirmed the kidnappings on its website, saying that the two were taken at 1 p.m. by armed men in Kidal and had not been heard from since. The ministry said in a statement that French intelligence services along with Malian authorities “are putting everything in place so that light can be shed as quickly as possible on the circumstances of their deaths.” The deaths come four days after France rejoiced at the release of four French citizens held for three years by Al Qaeda’s affiliate in North Africa. A Malian military head, Col. Mamari Camara, said he had received a phone call in the afternoon from his men in the field confirming the two reporters had been taken. The two were grabbed by several armed men in a 4x4 after they finished an interview with a Tuareg rebel leader, a Kidal city official said on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press. Northern Mali last year was seized by a faction of Al Qaeda which has used kidnappings of foreigners, especially French citizens, to bankroll its operations. The global intelligence company Stratfor estimates that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, has carried out at least 18 kidnappings since 2003, raising an estimated $89 million in ransom payments. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 And TW wins by a TKO! |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2013-11-03 19:03 |
| #3 Here you go, Spereting Tingle4064. Mali on a map. It's in Africa next to Algeria. Really, this isn't nearly as hard as you make out. This isn't my job -- my job is to be a little housewife deep in the Midwestern suburbs. But I was trained to read maps in third or fourth grade, and somehow I've managed to maintain the skill. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-11-03 14:36 |
| #2 I can find Mali on a map. Then again, a) I'm educated and b) it's part of my job. What do you do for a living? Collect rejection notices from publishing houses? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-11-03 13:11 |
| #1 French? Why would anyone, even a Frenchman, want to work for any reason in Mali ? There are no Croissants in Mali. Just a lot of wogs in Turbans with AKs and Jezails and camel spiders in Mali. Just pause for a moment and tell me where on the map Mali actually is? And its nearest neighbor is? You see? And that IS camel you smell. Take a deep sniff..now get back in your car and drive in the direction of the "other way". French? yeah? Hard to feel sorry for the French isn't it? |
| Posted by: Spereting Tingle4064 2013-11-03 08:48 |