Bamako: An armed gang of kidnappers abducted
three Europeans and killed a fourth in the Timbuktu region of
northern Mali, security sources said on Friday.
The victim who was shot dead had tried to resist his
abduction, according to the sources who did not give the
nationality of the hostages.
The news of the latest kidnapping comes after two French
geologists were abducted by an armed gang from their hotel in
the eastern village of Hombori near the border with Niger
early yesterday.
French soldiers have now joined Mali's army in the hunt
for the pair, according to a news agency journalist in the Hombori
region.
Although there has been no immediate claim of
responsibility, the incidents are the latest in a series of
abductions of foreigners believed to be the work al Qaeda in
the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
AQIM has bases in the northern Mali desert from which it
organises raids and kidnappings and deals in the trafficking
of weapons and drugs.
PTI
First Published: Friday, November 25, 2011, 23:46