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Subscribe to RSSIslamist militant group Boko Haram has claimed that it is holding a French family of seven captured in Cameroon last week, France's Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Monday.
The video, which appears to show the family, including four children, was posted on YouTube on Monday.
"(We) have received information that the group Boko Haram is claiming to be holding the French family," Ayrault told reporters, adding that French experts were examining the YouTube video to determine whether it was authentic.
"We have been taken by Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad," one of the male hostages said in the video, referring to the name in Arabic of Nigeria's Boko Haram militants. "They want the liberation of their brothers in Cameroon and their women imprisoned in Nigeria."
The kidnapping on Tuesday of the seven French nationals in Cameroon's far north, near the border with Nigeria, highlighted the risk to French citizens in Africa since Paris sent troops into Mali to oust Islamists there.
"The president of France has launched a war on Islam," said one of the apparent kidnappers, warning that the hostages would be killed if their demands were not met.
Cameroon Communication Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said he could not comment because his government was not aware of the video.
The governor of Cameroon's Far North Region, Augustine Fonka Awa, said he was not aware of any Boko Haram members being held in the country.
Related:
Nigeria in 'massive manhunt' for French hostages
French special forces join hunt for kidnapped family
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Pull all of our forces out of the Middle East and let those suckers kill each other until the cows come home.
Move all of our forces into western Africa and start pushing the radicals all the way back to Egypt.
I think Africa can still be saved. Just barely. It's to late for the Middle East. Evolution and enlightenment is their only hope.
If we clear out of
Iraq
Afghanistan
Yemen
Jordan
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
+pull our troops out of S. Korea we should be able to stop the advance of Arab Muslims into Africa.
The Black race never gets a break and this could be the place to make up for it.
If Arabs have their way Africa will be ethnically cleansed like Libya was.
They do everything with a 100 year plan.
"I think Africa can still be saved. Just barely. It's to late for the Middle East. Evolution and enlightenment is their only hope."
Islam and enlightenment are antithetical.
The Boko Haram are a bad bunch of people, and they have kidnapped a French family and the press is all over the story.
While at the same time in Mexico, kidnapping is a regular event. It's a cottage industry. They are even snatching people in California and Arizona and it rarely given any coverage by our media. We should be outraged.
I hope the French family survives, but saving them should be secondary to hurting Boko Haram. Get in. Hit them. Get out. It is that last part that is hard to do.
Mexican citizens kill 4000 Americans a year. And they do it inside of our borders.
I imagine that also makes the gun violence statistics go through the roof.
Get rid of the Mexican Citizens living here and kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
Oh but wait they are our friends we can't expect them to obey our laws. Come one come all make America just like the overpopulated crime ridden drug infested country you came from. To not want them here is racist.
Only a French family with four kids would vacation in Cameroon. Again, instead of imprisoning terrorists, just execute them and save space in the jail for drunks and thieves. Terrorists cannot be rehabilitated.
If he can pronounce all that then the family is probably of Arab or African origin.
Cameroon has restrictive gun laws. It really helps them when they get attacked by gangs because as you know police are always on top of crime here and abroad. I hope the chimp sanctuary people stay safe.