Sarkozy vows to avenge beheading of French hostage

President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Monday to avenge the murder of a 78-year-old French aid worker who was kidnapped and beheaded in the Sahara desert by Al Qaeda's North African wing.

Sarkozy spoke after Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) declared it had killed Michel Germaneau in revenge, after French and Mauritanian soldiers stormed one of the group's camps in Mali and killed six militants.

"Dear compatriots, this crime committed against Michel Germaneau will not go unpunished," Sarkozy said, warning French nationals to avoid the arid Sahel region running through Mauritania, Mali, Niger and southern Algeria.

"We demand instantly of our countrymen that they abandon absolutely all travel in the Sahel zone," Sarkozy said, adding that he had dispatched his foreign minister to the region to review the safety of expatriates.

French commandos, acting with Mauritanian troops, had tried to free Germaneau, a retired engineer kidnapped April 20, but had not found him when they raided a desert Al Qaeda camp in Mali, the president said.

In Mali, a local elected official told AFP that Germaneau had been beheaded after the raid in the presence of Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, the leader of the AQIM cell that has been blamed for killing a Briton in 2009.

Spain, which also has two hostages held by another Al Qaeda faction in the region, condemned the killing of Germaneau and said it would con-tinue with efforts to free its citizens.

Paris negotiated the release of another hostage, Pierre Camatte, who was released in February after Mali agreed to free four Islamist prisoners it was holding.

Agencies