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THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 10 2012 23:51 | LAST UPDATED Feb 10 2012 23:51 |
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Rebels in northern Mali are holding about 30 soldiers hostage following an attack last week, military officials said on Sunday. Ethnic Tuareg rebels raided a military convoy in the desert Kidal region last week, taking several dozen troops hostage, a military official said on condition of anonymity because he was not an authorised spokesperson. Military spokesperson Colonel Abdoulaye Coulibaly confirmed that the rebels took some hostages after a landmine attack on Thursday, but refused to give details on how many were taken or the manner of their capture. Three people were killed when the military vehicle hit the mine in Mali's northern desert. Officials in the Kidal region declined to comment. The hostage-taking comes two weeks after the rebels freed the last of a group of hostages held since August and illustrates the instability of the region as European diplomats work to try to free two Austrian tourists reportedly being held in the area by Islamist militants. Al-Qaeda in Islamic North Africa has said it is holding the Austrian couple and gave authorities until midnight local time on Sunday to release some of its members jailed in Tunisia and Algeria. Officials have not confirmed that the two are in Mali, though an Austrian envoy has been in the country for some time. Mali had signed a peace deal with the Tuaregs last year to end an insurgency that reignited in 2006 after years of peace following a 1990s rebellion. The latest deal promised renewed efforts to increase development in the impoverished north and increase government opportunities for members of the ethnic group. But one faction refused to sign the deal, saying it did not do enough to help the Tuareg minority, whose nomadic culture sets them apart from Mali's southern ethnic groups.  CONTINUES BELOW This band of men since has been blamed for attacks on military installations and for kidnapping soldiers and government security officers. -- Sapa-AP TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
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