"Frenchmen in Niger killed by kidnappers: French PM"

"Paris, Jan 10 (DPA) Two French hostages who were found dead in the Niger desert following a rescue attempt by French and Niger government forces were killed 'in cold blood' by their kidnappers, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Monday.

The bodies of Antoine de Leocour and Vincent Delory, both 25, were discovered Saturday at the site of a shootout between the kidnappers and the security forces.

Few details have emerged about the circumstances of their death.

But Fillon told a press conference in Paris that according to 'initial elements' at his disposal 'the kidnappers, when they saw they were being pursued, eliminated the hostages in cold blood'.

French Defence Minister Alain Juppe travelled to Niger Monday to discuss the investigation in the case with local authorities and seek to reassure French expatriates of Frances commitment to their security.

The killings, which come four months after five French nationals were kidnapped from a uranium mining facility in northern Niger, have sent shockwaves throughout France.

A group calling itself Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has carried out a spate of kidnappings of Western nationals in Niger, Mauritania and Mali since 2007, is suspected of being behind the attack.

The two victims were snatched by masked, Arab-speaking men from a restaurant in the Niger capital, Niamey and whisked off in the direction of the border with Mali, where AQIM is believed to be based.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave orders for French troops to intervene after the group was spotted by a French military surveillance plane in the desert.

Three Niger soldiers were killed in the operation, along with 'several' kidnappers, the French government has said.

Two French troops were also injured.

Sarkozy termed the young men's death a 'barbaric act, perpetrated by barbarians'.

If AQIM are confirmed as being behind the attack, it will be the first time they have ventured from the lawless desert zones into the Niger capital to take hostages.

AQIM had often threatened to attack French interests in the region, particularly after six of its members were killed last year in a raid on one of its bases in Mali by French and Mauritanian soldiers.

That raid was undertaken to rescue a 78-year-old French aid worker, kidnapped in April. The raid failed and the hostage was subsequently executed. "
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