MOGADISHU, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Al-Qaida-linked Al-Shabaab movement in Somalia on Wednesday said it has decided to kill the French hostage Dennis Allex days after commandoes from France failed to rescue him from his captors.
French especial forces with helicopters raided an Al-Shabaab base in an effort to rescue a French security expert held hostage by the group in the southern town of Bulo Marer, but the operation failed to free the hostage and led to the killing of two French soldiers.
"Harakat Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahideen has reached a unanimous decision to execute the French intelligence officer, Dennis Allex, " said Al-Shabaab in a tweeted statement.
French officials said following the rescue operation that they believed Dennis may have been killed by his captors in the course of the rescue mission, while Al-Shabaab commanders denied the French statement saying the hostage remained safe and would decide on his fate.
Al-Shabaab said the decision to execute Dennis was taken to avenge the deaths of civilians killed by the French forces during the operation, and for what they termed France's oppressive anti- Islam policies at home, as well as French military operations in Afghanistan and, most recently, in Mali.
The radical group did not say when they will carry out the execution of the French hostage who, along with another intelligence officer who later escaped, was taken captive in 2009 from a hotel in Mogadishu.
