French to release Niger kidnapping documents

The CCSDN, the French administrative authority on confidential documents, agreed on Friday to declassify materials related a military operation that ended with two French hostages dead in Niger in January.

REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen

Two declassifications have already been granted, making videos and photographs available to prosecutors investigating the case.

Vincent Delory and Antonie Lamour Bechet de Léocour were kidnapped in Niger on 7 January and killed during a rescue attempt in Mali the next day.

French special forces had pursued the kidnappers into Mali, but were unable to free the two hostages.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the kidnapping on 13 January.