Mali: Britain condemns killing of hostage

  1. Posted on Thursday 4 June 2009 - 09:05
    Murtala
    Image of Murtala
    Murtala Mohamed Kamara, AfricaNews reporter in Freetown, Sierra Leone
    The British Prime Minister, Godwin Brown, has condemned the killing of one of its citizen's in the West African country of Mali by a group believe to have links with the terrorist Al-Qaeda network. Brown on Wednesday described the killing as "barbaric and appalling act of terrorism".
    Brown
    The group that killed the British hostage announced over the weekend through a website that they have killed Dyer after a second deadline of meeting expired which demand the British authorities to free Abu Qatada, a Jordanian Islamist believe to be a close associate of the most wanted terrorist leader Bin Laden.

    Brown said in a statement according to Reuters that: "We have strong reason to believe that a British citizen, Edwin Dyer, has been murdered by an Al Qaeda cell in Mali. I utterly condemn this appalling and barbaric act of terrorism".

    Brown added: "It strengthens our determination never to concede to the demands of terrorists, nor to pay ransoms. I want those who would use terror against British citizens to know beyond doubt that we and our allies will pursue them relentlessly, and that they will meet the justice they deserve".

    Brown assured that "I have regularly discussed this case with the president of Mali. He knows that he will have every support in rooting out Al Qaeda from his country."

    Abu Qatada has been held in detention in Britain since 2005 for his alleged close links to Bin Laden, a charge which he denied. Al Qaeda has been consolidating its base in North Africa. In 2007, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) associated itself with Osama Bin Laden international network.

    Defense officials had earlier warned that the North Africa branch of Al Qaeda must not be ignored in the fight against world terror.

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