| CNN International | - |
(CNN)
-- French radio journalists Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon have
been found dead in northern Mali, the French Foreign Ministry said
Saturday.
Two French journalists abducted, slain in Mali
updated 4:55 PM EDT, Sat November 2, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: The journalists were abducted after interviewing a rebel, RFI reports
- French President Francois Hollande calls the killings "despicable"
- The French Foreign Ministry confirms the deaths
- The journalists worked for Radio France International
The two Radio France
International reporters were kidnapped Saturday morning after conducting
interviews with a Tuareg rebel near the northern town of Kidal, a local
governor said, according to RFI sister network France Info.
Verlon and Dupont "were
abducted by four men aboard a Toyota," Kidal Gov. Adama Kamissoko said
while in Bamako, according to France Info.
Kidal was one of the
strongholds of the Islamic militant Tuareg uprising last year that
plunged Mali into chaos after a military-led coup. Following the coup,
the al Qaeda-linked Tuareg rebels occupied the northern half of the
country.
Earlier this year, as
part of France's intervention to flush out Islamist militants in Mali,
the French military secured the area around Kidal, the last major town
that was under rebel control in northern Mali.
The two reporters were
abducted in front of the home a member of the Tuareg rebels' National
Movement of a Liberation of Azawad, RFI reported.
The two journalists could
be heard resisting their abduction, according to their driver, who was
forced by the gunmen to lay on the ground, RFI said.
French President Francois
Hollande condemned the killings, calling them "despicable," according
to a statement released by the presidential palace.
The kidnapping and deaths
come the same week that four long-held French hostages were released.
They had been abducted by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in neighboring
Niger and had been held since 2010.
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