AQIM has released pictures of Philippe Verdon (right) with fellow captive Serge Lazarevic. (AFP)
AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIES -
French hostage, Philippe Verdon, has been beheaded by al-Qaeda’s wing in
north Africa in retaliation for France’s intervention in Mali,
Mauritania’s ANI news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a spokesman for
the group.
Verdon, a French geologist captured in the northern Mali town of Hombori
in November 2011, was beheaded by al-Qaeda on March 10, the group said.
An al-Qaeda commander reportedly called ANI, which has close links to
Islamist militants, saying Verdon was killed “in response to the French
military intervention in the north of Mali,” ANI reported.
The death, if proved true, would be a worrying development for Paris,
which still has some 14 hostages held in West Africa, including seven in
the Sahel by AQIM and its affiliates.
French President Francois Hollande in part justified military action in
Mali to prevent the north from being used as a launch pad for terror
attacks in Africa and in the West.
One of AQIM’s leaders, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, had pledged revenge after
France launched a campaign in January to dislodge the group and other
Islamist militants who had hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in the Sahel
nation and seized the northern half of the country.
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