Kidal is at the epicentre of a dispute between ethnic Tuareg nomads and most Malians, who are black Africans
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Sahara kidnappings – big business
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Two French journalists have been killed after they were kidnapped in the northern Mali town of Kidal, France’s foreign ministry has confirmed.
The ministry said in a statement that Claude Verlon and Ghislaine Dupont, journalists for the French radio station RFI, “were found dead in Mali”.
RFI earlier confirmed the pair were taken at 13:00 GMT by armed men in Kidal.
They had finished interviewing a local political leader when they were taken.
Ambeiry Ag Rhissa, a local official of the MNLA ethnic Tuareg separatist group, said they had been interviewing him.
“When they left, I heard a strange noise outside,” he told Reuters news agency by telephone.
“I immediately went out to see and when I opened my door, a turbaned man pointed a gun at me and told me go back inside.”
Sources said four men forced the journalists into a truck which was then driven off into the surrounding desert, sources said.
One report said the kidnappers’ vehicle was being pursued by the security forces, possibly including the French army, which has a presence in the area. A French attack helicopter was seen above Kidal a few hours after the abduction occurred.
Reuters quoted local sources as saying the bodies of the journalists were found a few miles outside Kidal.
“The French government, in conjunction with the Malian authorities will make every effort to find out as soon as possible about the circumstances of their death,” the French foreign ministry statement said.
Kidnappings
The BBC’s international development correspondent Mark Doyle, who was in Kidal just two days ago, describes it as a small place with a population of some 10,000.
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Mali timeline
Map
2011: Tuareg fighters leave Libya after Gaddafi toppled and take up arms at home in Mali
March-April 2012: Separatist and Islamist groups seize control of northern Mali
Jan 2013: French-led forces oust rebels from towns
June 2013: Government and separatist rebels sign peace deal
July 2013: Elections held to reunite Mali
Mali refugees in daily struggle
He says it is at the epicentre of a political dispute between ethnic Tuareg nomads and the rest of the population of Mali, who are black Africans.
There are 200 French troops and 200 UN peacekeepers as well as a Malian army base in Kidal, he adds.
Earlier this week, four Frenchmen were released three years after being kidnapped by al-Qaeda-linked gunmen targeting French firms operating a uranium mine in neighbouring Niger.
The hostages had been held in the deserts of northern Mali.
Jubilation at their release was tempered by speculation that the French government had made as much as a 20m euros (£17m; $26m) ransom.
Hostage-taking has become a big money-making business by extremist groups in the Sahara, say observers.
Much of it goes towards buying the means to carry out more kidnappings: Procuring four-wheel drive jeeps, fuel, weapons and GPS systems, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner reports.
France led an operation to oust Islamist rebels from northern Mali – its former colony – earlier this year, sending in thousands of troops.
It handed over responsibility for security to a UN force in the summer.
But French troops are still in the country helping to prevent a resurgence of militant activity in the region.
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