http://counterterrorismblog.org/2009/02/nefa_foundation_aqim_claims_ki.php
“NEFA Foundation: AQIM Claims Kidnapping of U.N. Envoy & Four European Tourists”
By Evan Kohlmann
(February 22, 2009, 11:11 PM)
www.nefafoundation.org/documents-original.html#aqimun0209
www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/nefaaqimunhostage0209.pdf
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revolution.thabaat.net/?p=928
AQIM:: Kidnapping the U.N. Envoy, his assistant and 4 European tourists February 21, 2009
Posted by admin in : Al-Jaza’ir, Jihad, News , trackback
www.jihadica.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/02-18-09-aqim-abduction-un-representatives-and-european-tourists.pdf
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http://www.jihadica.com/new-aqim-abduction-cases/
“New AQIM abduction cases”
Hanna Rogan
February 24th, 2009 | Algeria
SNIPPET: “In mid-December 2008, UN special envoy to Niger, Robert Fowler, and his aide, Louis Guay, mysteriously disappeared while on a field trip. The fate of the two Canadians long remained shrouded in uncertainty. A Nigerian Tuareg rebel group first claimed responsibility for their abduction, but this claim was quickly retracted. In early February Canadian authorities received a video tape from unknown sources which confirmed the two diplomats were still alive, and demanded a prisoner swap for their release. Last Wednesday, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb released an online statement in which it claimed responsibility not only for the abduction of Fowler and Guay, but also that of four European tourists who disappeared from the Mali-Niger border area in late January.
The latest statement is brief and raises as many questions as it answers. It names and depicts the four tourists (one Briton, one German and two Swiss), but offers no indications of their approximate geographical whereabouts, nor on whether the six hostages are held together. The statement includes no specific demands, but states that the hostages are held as prisoners under the shari‘a law and that conditions for their release will be given at a later time.
These two recent cases resemble the kidnapping case of two Austrian tourists last year in several respects (see also here). They were abducted by AQIM elements in Tunisia in February, then taken to Mali and held there until released for a ransom in October.
First, all three cases illustrate AQIM’s extended geographical reach. “