Foreign couple feared kidnapped
2009-12-19 19:07
Nouakchott - A foreign couple travelling in southeast Mauritania are feared to have been kidnapped after their minibus was found empty and covered in bullet holes, a local source told AFP on Saturday.
The couple - described only as an African woman and a European man - were travelling by minibus between the Mauritanian town of Ayoun and Kayes in western Mali, said the source, who is connected to local officials.
He said other travellers had reported finding the minibus empty, with its tyres punctured and bullet marks on its side, by the side of the road a few dozen kilometres from the Malian border.
The apparent kidnapping comes three weeks after three Spaniards were abducted in the desert region.
The North African branch of al-Qaeda has claimed to be holding the trio along with a Frenchman kidnapped across the border in Mali in November, at an unknown location in the Sahara.