Al Qaeda beheads French 'spy'

Source: The Telegraph

A man claiming to be a spokesman for Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, AQIM, told Mauritania's ANI news agency late last night that Philippe Verdon had been executed on March 10 "in response to France's intervention in Northern Mali".

"The French President (François) Hollande is responsible for the lives of the other French hostages," the spokesman warned.

France says it is still trying to verify the report, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying that "we don't know at the moment" whether it is reliable.

In all 15 French nationals are being held captive in Africa – the largest number of any nation in the world - with AQIM claiming responsibility for six of the kidnappings.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/mali/9941848/Al-Qaeda-beheads-French-spy.html

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Horrifying. Some more reportage here, too:

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/french-hostage-killed-in-mali/article4529823.ece

I also might re-quotation the headline to 'Al Qaeda' 'beheads' French 'Spy', since the only thing verified is that there is or was a French man held hostage by someone...