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France denies claim that agent defected to al-Qaeda

Denial comes after US website claimed French intelligence officer had joined terrior group and was target of US air strikes.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

A French defense ministry source denied on Monday a U.S. media report that a French intelligence officer had defected to al Qaeda's branch in Syria and was being targeted for elimination by U.S. air strikes, reports Reuters.

McClatchy DC, a Washington DC-based news web site, reported citing several European intelligence sources that the former French officer was the highest ranking defector to go over to al Qaeda and that coalition powers had failed to kill him in several air strikes.

"After checks this morning, we can assert that the information concerning supposed links between the jihadist cited by the press and French intelligence services is totally erroneous," the French defense source said

Read more of this report from Reuters.