Al-Qaeda's North African offshoot says it has killed a French businessman captured in Mali in 2011, Mauritania's ANI news agency reports, reports the BBC.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) told ANI that it killed Philippe Verdon on 10 March, in retaliation for France's intervention in Mali.
Mr Verdon and another Frenchman were seized in the town of Hombori.
French troops were sent to Mali in January after al-Qaeda-linked militants threatened to march on the capital.
In recent weeks French-led forces have been fighting militants in the remote Ifoghas mountains of northern Mali.
Early on Wednesday the French foreign ministry said it was trying to verify the report by Agence Nouakchott d'Information.
Philippe Verdon and Serge Lazarevic were said to be on a business trip when they were captured at their hotel in November 2011.
Read more of this report from the BBC.