Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

France vows to push al-Qaida fight

|
|
 
  
Published: July 27, 2010 at 11:10 AM

PARIS, July 27 (UPI) -- The French government pledged Tuesday to pump up its fight against al-Qaida in northern Africa after kidnappers killed a French hostage in the Sahel desert.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a northern Africa affiliate of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, claimed responsibility for killing of Michel Germaneau, 78, a French aid worker who was kidnapped in Niger, Radio France Internationale reported.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said Monday it executed Germaneau, who was kidnapped in April in the northern Niger desert near the Mali-Algeria border.

"The fight against terrorism continues and it is going to strengthen, particularly against (al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb)," French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said.

On Monday, 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 killed six members.

Topics: al Qaida, Michel Germaneau, Osama bin Laden
Recommended Stories
© 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Father's Day: Celebrity dads The 2012 Miss USA competition Faces of the 2012 French Open
2012 MTV Movie Awards Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee Notable deaths of 2012
Additional World News Stories
1 of 20
Lil Niqo arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California
View Caption
Rapper Lil Niqo arrives at the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California on June 3, 2012. UPI/Jim Ruymen
fark
I killed three rare turtles
Woman Beats Man with Prosthetic Leg during Argument over Groceries
"Glamor shots" that Tan Mom Patricia Krentcil took in her 20s have surfaced and her face was just...
The Dum Dum mystery flavor is basically their leftover goop. Childhood ruined
"Every week they catch them shipping little babies wrapped in gold foil for these guys to eat. They...
Photoshop this sand queen