HOMBORI, Mali, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The North African branch of al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the Mali kidnappings last month of two French citizens, a Briton, a Swede and a Dutch national.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Magreb released Friday what it claimed were photographs of the five kidnapping victims, Radio France Internationale reported.
One photo shows two French citizens, Serge Lazarevic and Philippe Verdon, with three armed men behind them; the other, a Briton, a Swede and a Dutch national, surrounded by four armed men.
The faces of all the armed men in the photos are covered by turbans.
Mauritanian news agency ANI, which has published past statements by the al-Qaida offshoot, said the terrorist group released the photos to support its statement a day earlier claiming responsibility for the abductions.
In a statement, the al-Qaida group accused the two French citizens of working for the French intelligence service.
The statement said the kidnappings were "in response to repeated aggression in France against Muslims from Sahel countries" and "a legitimate reaction against" the country's policies.
The group's statement said it would soon make its demands known to France and Mali.
Lazarevic and Verdon were seized at gunpoint Nov. 24 from a hotel in Hombori near the Niger border.
The other three kidnapping victims were abducted from a restaurant near Timbuktu's center square by gunmen who killed a German who resisted.
