PARIS: A French national has been abducted in the central African nation of Chad, a French military source said today. The kidnapping took place near the eastern city of Abeche, the source told reporters in Paris, adding that "all means have been mobilised to secure the person's liberation."
The hostage is a civilian, the source added. Several French nationals have been kidnapped by jihadist groups in west and central Africa in recent years. France has troops stationed in Chad - a former French colony - under Operation Barkhane, which was launched in 2014 to try to rout al-Qaeda-linked extremists from the region.
A year earlier, French forces intervened in Mali to help flush Al-Qaeda-linked extremists out of towns in that country's north.