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| The Journalists,left and Right hours before they were killed |
Around a dozen suspects have been arrested over the killing of two
French journalists in Mali, a police source in the north of the country told
AFP on Monday.
"A dozen suspects have been arrested since the murder of two
Radio France Internationale (RFI) journalists," said a police source in
Gao, the main city in northern Mali.
Radio France Internationale (RFI) journalist Ghislaine Dupont, 57,
and sound technician Claude Verlon, 55, were kidnapped and killed by what
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius coined "terrorist groups" in the
flashpoint northeastern town of Kidal on Saturday.
Their murder has shaken France, which just days ago was
celebrating the return of four hostages who had been held for three years after
being abducted in Mali's neighbour Niger.
On Monday, Fabius told RTL radio "operations" were under
way in Mali in a bid to "identify a certain number of people in
camps."
But a source close to Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian who
refused to be named told AFP French forces had "information" that
could allow the murderers to be tracked down.
Dupont and Verlon's bodies were found riddled with bullets just
hours after they were kidnapped on Saturday, lying by a pick-up truck they had
been abducted in.
Fabius said Dupont was killed with two bullets in the chest while
Verlon "received three bullets in the head."
"When the French forces arrived behind the pick-up, they saw
someone escaping not far away, around 1 500m away, they followed him but did
not catch him."
The two veteran journalists had travelled to Kidal to interview a
spokesperson for the Tuareg separatist group the National Movement for the
Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), and were abducted outside his home, according to
their employer.
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