Keyword: hostages

Gunmen shouting 'God is great!' have seized control of Radisson Blu Hotel in capital of Mali where French troops intervened in 2013.

Police released 18 people trapped inside a Primark clothing store in Villeneuve-la-Garenne after an attempted armed robbery.

The man, who features in the film showing IS militants beheading hostages, has been named as Islamic convert Michael Dos Santos, 22.

Serge Lazarevic, held in the Sahara for almost three years since kidnapped in Mali, asks French president 'to do everything to free me'.

Didier François, released by IS earlier this year, said repeated mock executions leave hostages unaware of when the jihadists decide to kill.

Libération insists Mehdi Nemmouche told journalists held hostage in Syria of his plan to attack Paris, but interior minister dismisses claim.

German magazine Focus cited NATO sources in a report that Paris paid the kidnappers of four French journalists freed earlier this month.

Foreign minister says 'about 500' French citizens are fighting in Syria with jihadi groups like that which kidnapped recently-released hostages.

Journalist Didier Francois said the four were chained to each other and kept in basements without natural light; ministers deny ransom was paid.

Four hostages kidnapped in 2010 by al Qaeda-linked group arrive back in Paris where officials denied reports a ransom was paid for their release.

The four male hostages, kidnapped in Niger in 2010 at a uranium mine run by the French nuclear company Areva, are reportedly in fair health.

The kidnapping of Nicolas Henin of Le Point magazine and TV journalist Pierre Torres on June 22 had not previously been made public.

Foreign ministry says images of seven hostages, including four French, being held by an al-Qaeda affiliate in the Sahel is fresh proof they are alive.

Islamist militant group Boko Haram was paid more than $3m before releasing a French family of seven, according to a Nigerian government report.