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Al-Qaeda claims kidnapping of 3 Spaniards, Frenchman in West Africa
Dec 8, 2009, 9:52 GMT
Nouakchott/Madrid - The North African branch of the al-Qaeda terrorist network on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the abduction of three Spaniards and a French national.
In an audio tape broadcast by the Doha-based al-Jazeera channel, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb spokesman Salih Abu Mohammed said the four Europeans were in the hands of the group.
The group would, at a later stage, inform the Spanish and French governments of its demands, the spokesman said.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said the Spanish national intelligence agency CNI was verifying the authenticity of the recording.
The three Spaniards, aid workers from a Barcelona-based humanitarian agency, were abducted at gunpoint in Mauritania on November 29. Four days earlier, a French national was abducted at a hotel in neighbouring Mali.
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