Somali Shebab 'Decide to Execute' French Hostage

Somali Islamists said Wednesday they have decided to execute the French intelligence officer they have held for more than three years and who was the object Saturday of a botched rescue bid.

The al-Qaida linked Shebab in a statement said they have "reached a unanimous decision to execute the French intelligence officer, Denis Allex." Paris has said the officer was most likely killed by his captors during the failed rescue attempt.

A senior Shebab official confirmed to Agence France Presse on Wednesday that Allex "has been sentenced and this judgement will not be changed. As far as we are concerned this man should die."

The Shebab have not provided any proof that Allex, presumed to be a pseudonym, is still alive.

The operation to free Allex, held since July 2009, was a failure, with two other French soldiers killed. The French retrieved one of the two bodies. Pictures of the second dead soldier, presented by the Shebab as the commander of the raid, have been posted on the Islamists' Twitter account.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday that the raid, by the elite DGSE secret service, was sparked by the "intransigence of the terrorists who have refused to negotiate for three and a half years and were holding Denis Allex in inhuman conditions."

The minister said at the weekend that a French soldier was missing, but on Monday he said it now appeared that the soldier had died. He did not indicate that he was a commander.

Le Drian said 17 guerrillas were killed in the raid, while witnesses claimed eight civilians died during the operation at Bulomarer, a town south of Mogadishu still in the control of the Shebab.