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France vows to strengthen fight against extremism

France's government vowed Tuesday to step up the fight against Al-Qaeda in northern Africa after kidnappers killed a French hostage in the Sahel desert region.

France's Prime Minister François Fillon
France's Prime Minister François Fillon Reuters
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"The fight against terrorism continues and it is going to strengthen, particularly against Aqmi," Prime Minister François Fillon said on Europe 1 radio, using the acronym for Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

The group, a northern Africa-based affiliate of Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, has claimed the killing of Michel Germaneau, a 78-year-old French aid worker who was kidnapped in Niger, according to Fillon's government.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed on Monday that the killing "will not go unpunished". He said the government had authenticated the group's claim to have killed Germaneau although his body has not been recovered.

Aqim declared it had killed Germaneau as revenge after French and Mauritanian soldiers stormed one of the group's camps in Mali and killed six of its members.

Fillon said France was on high alert against terrorist attacks.

"We foil several attacks every year in France and in neighbouring countries and we are not going to slacken our efforts," he said.

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