Kidnapped Family Freed in Cameroon

French government denies paying ransom to Islamic extremist group
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 19, 2013 7:10 AM CDT
Kidnapped French Family Freed in Cameroon
Tanguy Moulin-Fournier and his relatives were kidnapped in February in Cameroon by Islamic extremists, but last night all were freed.   (jean jibud)

A French family of seven, kidnapped in February by Islamic extremists in northern Cameroon, was freed last night, reports the AP. Officials from neither France nor Cameroon have yet offered any details about their release, but Cameroonian TV captured the family exiting an airplane, all thin but walking steadily; a man who had grown a thick beard carried the smallest child.

French gas group GDF Suez identified the former captives as an employee who worked in Yaounde and his family. The vacationing group comprised three adults and four children, whom French media reported were between the ages of five and 12. The French government denied having given cash to the kidnappers. "We are not changing the principle that France does not pay ransoms," said French President Francois Hollande. (More Tanguy Moulin-Fournier stories.)

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