UNITED NATIONS, July 27 (UPI) -- The slaying of a French engineer by al-Qaida is a reminder of the threat posed by transnational terrorist groups, a U.N. spokesman said.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African franchise of al-Qaida, announced Monday that it beheaded 78-year-old Michel Germaneau. The French engineer was abducted in April while working on humanitarian projects in the Sahel region of Niger.
U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon said through his spokesman Martin Nesirky that the act was morally reprehensible.
"The secretary-general considers this latest incident a strong reminder of the urgent need to defeat terrorism throughout the world and in the Sahel region in particular," the spokesman was quoted by the U.N. news center as saying.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Germaneau's death "will not go unpunished," saying the government authenticated the group's claim to have killed the man even though his body hasn't been recovered.
The organization said it killed Germaneau in retaliation for French and Mauritanian soldiers storming one of the group's camps in Mali and killing six members.
