Swiss hostage reportedly still alive

The Swiss national held hostage by extremists in Mali is still alive, a British diplomat said on Wednesday.

Britain’s special envoy to Mali was speaking after al-Qaida’s North Africa wing, (AQMI), which is holding the man, said they had killed the British hostage they had taken at the same time. The message appeared on a website used by al-Qaida-linked groups.

The envoy told the Swiss News Agency that the British government would do nothing that might endanger the life of the Swiss hostage.

The Swiss foreign ministry expressed its “deep dismay, grief and outrage” at the news that the British national had been killed, and offered its condolences to his family.

In its statement it added that it would continue to focus all its efforts on the release of its own citizen.

The AQMI said it had killed the Briton after the expiry of its second deadline for the release of Abu Qatada, a Jordanian Islamist imprisoned in Britain, who has been named by a Spanish judge as the right-hand man in Europe of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

The group has taken responsibility for kidnapping two Canadian diplomats and four tourists in the Sahara between Mali and Niger during the past five months. The diplomats and two tourists, including the wife of the Swiss hostage, were released in April.

swissinfo.ch with agencies