5 foreigners kidnapped

PARIS (AP):

Armed assailants, operating under cover of night, kidnapped five French nationals and two Africans working in Niger for the French nuclear reactor builder Areva, French authorities said yesterday.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said the seven were kidnapped overnight near the mining town of Arlit, in Niger's northern desert region. French authorities are "totally mobilised" to respond to the situation, Valero said in an online briefing.