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7 January 2011
Last updated at 21:30 ET
Gunmen have kidnapped two Frenchmen in the capital of Niger, Niamey, security sources and eyewitnesses say.
They say the two were taken away from a crowded restaurant in the centre of the city and driven away in a car. No group has said it carried out the kidnapping.
In recent years a number of Westerners have been seized in Niger by al-Qaeda's North African branch.
The BBC's Idy Baraou in Niamey says kidnappings are rare in the capital, which is safer than the desert regions.
One of the kidnapped men was due to be married to a woman from Niger, and the other man was his friend, our correspondent says.
A staff member at the restaurant told the AFP news agency: "When [the abductors] came in, they fell on the two Frenchmen and they shouted 'you and you, follow us'.
"When they went out with the two Frenchmen, I took my car and I chased them for about a kilometre, but as they were moving at great speed and with the lights out, I couldn't catch them."
French officials said they were checking reports of the abduction, but were unable to confirm the nationalities of the men.
France is already working to secure the release of five French hostages seized in September near Arlit in northern Niger along with a Togolese and a Madagascan.
Militants from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) are believed to be holding them in neighbouring Mali.
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They say the two were taken away from a crowded restaurant in the centre of the city and driven away in a car. No group has said it carried out the kidnapping.
In recent years a number of Westerners have been seized in Niger by al-Qaeda's North African branch.
The BBC's Idy Baraou in Niamey says kidnappings are rare in the capital, which is safer than the desert regions.
One of the kidnapped men was due to be married to a woman from Niger, and the other man was his friend, our correspondent says.
A staff member at the restaurant told the AFP news agency: "When [the abductors] came in, they fell on the two Frenchmen and they shouted 'you and you, follow us'.
"When they went out with the two Frenchmen, I took my car and I chased them for about a kilometre, but as they were moving at great speed and with the lights out, I couldn't catch them."
French officials said they were checking reports of the abduction, but were unable to confirm the nationalities of the men.
France is already working to secure the release of five French hostages seized in September near Arlit in northern Niger along with a Togolese and a Madagascan.
Militants from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) are believed to be holding them in neighbouring Mali.
Online Business Consulting | Internet Business Consulting