Hiiraan Online
Thursday, July 16, 2009
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MOGADISHU (HOL) - Hisbul Islam which is one of the Muslim extremist groups fighting Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is claiming to hold the French security agents recently kidnapped from the hotel they were staying in Mogadishu, Somalia.
An official who spoke to the VOA on the behalf of Hisbul Islam said that his group is holding the kidnapped agents. The official refused to say his name and give any details of the kidnapped agents.
There have been reports recently that the TFG has been looking for the agents with the incentive of hundreds of the thousands of dollars but failed to secure their release and instead the agents ended up in the hands of Hisbul Islam. The two agents were in the country on the invitation of the TFG.
There are also non-confirmed reports that there are negotiations between the Somali and French governments on one hand and the gunmen holding the agents on the other for the release of the hostages.
The agents who specialized in military/security training were assisting the TFG and were expected to train five hundred TFG security troops in Djibouti. The news that the agents are in the hands of one of the groups fighting the government worries a lot French authorities.