The shadow of AQIM in the killing of two journalists

According to the newspaper “Le Monde”, three of the four kidnappers of two RFI journalists killed were identified as Tuareg rebels.

The French intelligence services have identified three of the four kidnappers GhislaineDupont and Claude Verlon, two journalists from Radio France International (RFI) removed Kidal in northeastern Mali and executed shortly afterwards.

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According to Le Monde , the three suspects, “who belong to the same family clan” , are known to French services, allowing their identification as a result of the discovery of a document left in the vehicle that was used to kidnapping. “This piece has identified a first individual already stuck in 2010 as a member of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and up to two other members of the commando” , the newspaper said.

The three men were among the Tuareg rebels who were allied to AQIM, and fought with him against the power of Bamako. Saying flee the combat zones in May, they were presented to the French forces which had then questioned before letting free. They were established in Kidal, in a camp of the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA) which formally broke with AQIM, opting for réconcilisationTuareg factions and negotiations with the government of Mali. Hence the assumption that they were actually undercover agents AQIM. “The name of the leader of the kidnappers was also already appeared in research on the removal on November 24, 2011 at Hombori in northern Mali, Philippe Verdon, found dead on July 6, and his colleague Serge Lazarevic, still held ” says Le Monde .

And, according to the daily, the three men are not part of the people, at least 35 according to Malian government, who have been arrested since Sunday in northern Mali.

The bodies of two French journalists killed in Mali have been repatriated on Tuesday at dawn in Paris. Away from the cameras, the families were received by François Hollande who also came, according to the Elysee, the “them in their pain” . The National Assembly observed the day a minute of silence in honor of the two victims.

The shadow of AQIM in the killing of two journalists