WASHINGTON, Dec 12, (AFP): A statement from a group identifying itself as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of five Europeans in Mali in two separate incidents, the SITE monitoring group said Sunday.
The message posted along with pictures of the victims on Jihadi forums identified two French nationals and “identified three others as Europeans but didn’t indicate their nationality,” said SITE in a statement.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) said the kidnappings were a revenge act for the “repeated aggression” of France in the region and the “continuous foolish policies” of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
They meanwhile denied involvement in the abduction of three Europeans in Algeria that was claimed on Saturday by an AQIM splinter group.
AQIM, addressing Sarkozy directly, said in the statemement released by SITE: “So, if you want, you have the ability to preserve their lives and release them as soon as you respond to the legitimate demands of the mujahideen; and if you want, you have the ability to kill them, whether by refusing or by being hasty and committing another uncalculated foolishness.”
The Mauritanian news agency ANI had previously carried pictures of the abducted five Westerners claimed by AQIM.
One photo showed French nationals Serge Lazarevic and Philippe Verdon with three armed men behind them, their faces obscured by turbans.
The other showed a Dutch national, a Swede and a man with dual British-South African nationality surrounded by four armed men, their faces similarly masked.
The group meanwhile in the statement denied kidnapping two Spanish nationals and an Italian from a refugee camp in Algeria in a seperate incident that has been claimed by a group which said it had broken away from AQIM.
On Saturday, that off-shoot group — calling itself the Jamat Tawhid Wal Jihad Fi Garbi Afriqqiya in west Africa — claimed the October kidnapping in an audio and written message sent to AFP’s correspondent in Bamako.
Security sources in the region have recently spoken of the formation of the breakaway group, which means “Unity Movement for Jihad in West Africa.”
Video
Two Spaniards and an Italian kidnapped in Algeria in October and purportedly held by an al-Qaeda splinter group are seen alive in a video shown to an AFP correspondent on Monday.
The undated footage shows the hostages’ faces clearly and is preceded by the name of the previously unknown organisation that claimed their abduction on Saturday, Jamat Tawhid Wal Jihad Fi Garbi Afriqqiya (Unity Movement for Jihad in West Africa).
The hostages, a Spanish man and woman and an Italian woman, can be heard identifying themselves in their own languages.
The man’s foot is bandaged and the two women are clad in blue gowns and yellow headscarves.
In the background, masked gunmen can be seen keeping watch.
The group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping on Saturday, sayiung it had broken away from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which was behind several other recent attacks and abductions in the region.
“This is the Jamat Tawhid Wal Jihad Fi Garbi Afriqqiya in west Africa. We claim the operation carried out on October 23 at Tindouf when two Spaniards and an Italian were kidnapped,” said the message sent to AFP.
Saturday’s claim came the day after the Mauritanian news agency ANI carried pictures of five Westerners whose abduction in Mali last month in two separate incidents was claimed by AQIM.
Security sources said earlier Monday that the kidnappers of two Frenchmen snatched in Mali last month had been arrested.