France says it helped Mauritania in operation against suspected al-Qaida extremists

France says it aided African anti-terror crackdown

PARIS — France’s military says it provided technical and logistics support to Mauritanian forces in an operation against suspected al-Qaida extremists alleged to have been preparing an attack.

The Defense Ministry says the operation led by the Mauritanians “neutralized the group of terrorists and prevented a planned attack against Mauritanian objectives.”

The ministry said Friday that the group also has refused to discuss freeing a French hostage it has threatened to execute.

French news reports say the Mauritanian army’s operation aimed to free hostage Michel Germaneau but failed to find him.

The ministry did not immediately return a call seeking more information about the operation against the al-Qaida offshoot, known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.