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Summary
Al-Qaeda's wing in North Africa said it had killed a French hostage it was holding in response to a raid by France and Mauritania against the group.A leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic said in an audio recording that Michel Germaneau was killed on Saturday in revenge for the killing of six group members in the raid. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office in Paris said it had no confirmation of the hostage's death and was checking the report. Retired engineer Germaneau, 78, was kidnapped in April and believed to be in the hands of Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, leader of the more hard-line of two AQIM factions operating in the Sahara. The raid into Mali was a sign of an escalating European and African response to the militants, who have evolved from an Islamist insurgency in Algeria into a regional network with bases in remote desert areas outside the control of states. Mauritanian officials have said six fighters were initially killed and a seventh later died of wounds. They captured insurgent weapons and vehicles. Germaneau is the latest in a string of Western hostages who have fallen prey to a new tactic by armed groups in the region, often claiming allegiance to Al-Qaeda, to secure funding.
