Fyra ihjälskjutna i brittisk bil vid fransk sjö (2012-09-05)

Four French hostages kidnapped by Al-Qaeda in north Africa have appeared in a new video calling on negotiations to secure their release.

The video, reportedly recorded last Wednesday, has been published on the Mauritanian news website Sahara Medias.

The hostages – Pierre Legrand, Daniel Larribe, Thierry Dole and Marc Feret – spoke to the camera individually in front of armed men wearing turbans.

They pleaded their case to French authorities, their families, and their employer, the French nuclear group Areva.

“It’s Wednesday, August 29 2012. We have now been here for nearly two years,” Larribe said without disclosing where he or his fellow hostages were.

Lagrand, the youngest hostage, said: “My family, I miss you very much. For 700 days, I have had no news from you. It’s difficult. I think about you every day and I hope to see you very soon.”

The men and three others were working for an Areva subsidiary in Arlit, northern Niger when they were captured by militants from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in September 2010.

Three of the hostages, including Larribe’s wife, were released in February 2011.

Sources say AQIM has demanded 90 million euros in ransom for the four, who in recordings released last April urged the then French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to withdraw French troops from Afghanistan in line with the militants’ demand.

Perhaps if we can understand why they were killed we can work out who killed them, but at the moment there are many questions.

I think the investigation will take a very, very long time, unless we discover something that will suddenly enable us to understand everything.

There are lines of inquiry but each raises so many questions and nothing suggests there will be a quick solution.

Fö kan man fundera över varför Mollier inte var igenkänd av RAF-cyklisten Brett Martin vare sig då han ska ha blivit omkörd eller vid brottsplatsen, då de ska ha tillhört samma cykelklubb.
Mollier identifierades först efter det att hans sambo efterlyst Mollier långt senare under dagen, vilket ytterligare är lite märkligt då det förutsätter att Mollier inte tagit med sig någon mobil, som man kunde ha ringt ifrån och på så sätt fått bekräftat vem som ägde mobilen.

Serbian criminal analyst Marc Drijoux believes the attackers are from the Balkans, and are likely to be hired killers who once served in the notorious UDBA, former Yugoslavia’s secret police.
It was a feared tool of state control which murdered and kidnapped people all over the world up until the 1990s, when many former members set up criminal paramilitary groups around Europe and other parts of the world.
Early ballistics tests have pointed to a Vz61 automatic sub-machine gun having been used in the Chevaline killings.
Mr Drijoux told the Belgrade-based news site, Blic Online: ‘The four victims were shot twice in the head. This technique of double tap suggests that the killer is a professional who received military training.
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‘The weapon used was a Skorpion VZ61, a weapon manufactured in the Balkans, notably used by special forces and Yugoslav Serbian associated with organized crime.’
Mr Drijoux said that the modus operandi of the killings suggested the work of a former paramilitary recruited by the Serbian mafia.
‘In recent years, many intelligence services rely on killers of Serbian origin who operate in the same manner as the UDBA,’ said Mr Drijoux.
He added: ‘Many are former soldiers with experience of war, and with good contacts, and with immense composure. In addition, their criminal history - some subject to an arrest warrant for war crimes - make them the ideal people to do the dirty work.’

Swiss authorities have seized money in a Geneva bank account linked to a British couple of Iraqi origin killed last month in the French Alps, a Swiss daily reported Friday.

Saad al-Hilli, who was shot dead in his car last month along with his wife, her mother, and a passing French cyclist, is believed to have gone to Geneva shortly before the massacre, the Tribune de Geneve daily reported in its online edition.

The paper said it had obtained information that Hilli's trip to Geneva, "as well as the seized money are linked to the murders."
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Swiss public broadcaster RTS meanwhile reported Friday that the bank account seized in Geneva had belonged to Hilli's recently deceased father and that it contained "well under" the six million Swiss francs (five million euros) evoked by British media.
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In addition to the reported Swiss bank account link to the crime, French investigators have said they were looking into whether the killer may have fled across the nearby Swiss border after the murders.

Investigators have demanded access to “several” accounts in Geneva and other cities that may provide crucial clues to solving the murders.