France has declared war on al-Qaeda, and matched its fighting words with a first attack on a base camp of the terror network's North African branch, after the terror network killed a French humanitarian worker it took hostage in April.
The declaration and attack marked a shift in strategy for France, usually discrete about its behind-the-scenes battle against terrorism.
"We are at war with al-Qaeda," Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Tuesday, a day after President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the death of 78-year-old hostage Michel Germaneau. The humanitarian worker had been abducted April 20 or 22 in Niger by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and was later taken to Mali, officials said.
The Salafist Group for Call and Combat formally merged with al-Qaeda in 2006 and spread through the Sahel region - parts of Mauritania, Mali and Niger.
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"It's a universal threat that concerns the entire world ... not just France or the West," Defence Minister Herve Morin said Tuesday on France-2 television.
"We will support local authorities so these assassins and (their) commanders are tracked, judged and taken before justice and punished. And, yes, we will help them."
The United States said it would help the French "in any way that we can" to bring those who killed Germaneau to justice, according to US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley.
On Thursday, the French backed Mauritanian forces in attacking an al-Qaeda camp on the border with Mali, killing at least six suspected terrorists.
Experts confirmed it was the first attack outside Algeria on an al-Qaeda base, and the first known time France has taken part.
France said it was a last-ditch effort to save its citizen, while Mauritania said it was trying to stop an imminent attack by fighters gathering at the base. For the French, the move may have backfired. The al-Qaeda group said in an audio message broadcast on Sunday that it had killed Germaneau in retaliation for the raid.
However, French officials suggested, however, that the hostage, who had a heart problem, may already have been dead. Even now, "We have no proof of life or death," Morin said.
An estimated 400-500 such fighters are thought to roam the Sahel region, a desert expanse as large as the European Union.
Despite meager numbers, the region's al-Qaeda fighters pose a clear threat. Among the more recent victims, a British captive was beheaded last year and two Spanish aid workers were taken hostage in Mauritania in November. Spain is working to free them.
Mauritanian soldiers also have fallen in numerous attacks.
