20120409
AFP
An Al-Qaeda dissident group on Sunday claimed it was behind the kidnap of seven Algerian diplomats in a town in northern Mali last week.

The Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) "officially claims responsibility for the kidnap of the Algerian consul and six of his team in Gao" in northeastern Mali, the group said in a statement sent to AFP.

The three northern towns of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu were overrun by Tuareg rebels and Islamist armed fighters last week, putting half the country under their control following a coup by low-ranking military officials in March.

A spokesman claiming to speak on behalf of the group told AFP by telephone that MUJAO "will be making its demands known".

The families of the diplomats were repatriated to Algeria on Friday.

Algeria last week said an "unidentified group" had carried out the attack.

Witnesses told AFP the raiders had hoisted the black Salafist flag that has been the emblem of Islamist rebels who have seized the fabled desert city of Timbuktu and the other northern towns.

MUJAO in December also claimed the kidnap in October in western Algeria of two Spaniards and one Italian aid workers.

Asked if the group still held them, the spokesman said "yes and we are carrying out negotiations with the Spanish and Italian governments".

The group has demanded 30 million euros ($39 million) for the release of the three Europeans, a source close to mediators involved in the case told AFP in March.

MUJAO is said to have broken off from the main group, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), in order to spread jihad to west Africa rather than confine themselves just to the Maghreb or Sahel regions.

The group also claimed an attack in March against police in Tamanrasset, southern Algeria, in which officials said 23 people were wounded.