France said two of its nationals were found dead, apparently executed by their kidnappers, after French special forces joined a failed attempt to rescue them in Niger.
Armed Forces spokesman Thierry Burkhard said the special forces, sent to the region in September after a previous kidnapping, coordinated the rescue attempt with Niger's forces after spotting the abductors from one of their surveillance aircraft.
Three kidnappers were killed, he added.
The two victims were abducted from a bar in the capital Niamey overnight, bringing to eight the number of French nationals snatched in the African country since last April.
‘The head of state condemns this barbaric and cowardly act,’ French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement.
French media named the dead men as Antoine De Leocour, working for charity Aide Medicale Internationale, and his friend Vincent Delory, who had just arrived in the capital to attend De Leocour's wedding.
Both were 25 and from Linselles, northeast France.
A Nigerien government source told Reuters their bodies had been flown back to Niamey.
Last July another French hostage, Michel Germaneau, 78, was killed after a failed French rescue mission in Mali following his abduction in Niger.
