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| French hostages 'freed in Cameroon' | French hostages 'freed in Cameroon' |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A French family of seven kidnapped in Cameroon earlier this week have been freed and rescued in Nigeria, a French government minister says. | |
| "They are safe and well," a Cameroonian military source is quoted as saying. | "They are safe and well," a Cameroonian military source is quoted as saying. |
| The three adults and four children were seized during a holiday, causing alarm in France and prompting it to warn all French citizens to leave the area. | The three adults and four children were seized during a holiday, causing alarm in France and prompting it to warn all French citizens to leave the area. |
| French President Francois Hollande speculated they had been taken by the violent Islamist group Boko Haram. | French President Francois Hollande speculated they had been taken by the violent Islamist group Boko Haram. |
| But on Thursday morning, French minister Kader Arif confirmed media reports that they had been released. | |
| The family - a couple, their children aged five, eight, 10 and 12 and an uncle - were snatched on Tuesday in northern Cameroon by six gunmen on three motorbikes, the French news agency AFP reports. | |
| The French government had said it believed they had been taken across the border into Nigeria - apparently confirmed by the news of their release. | |
| "They were found abandoned in a house in Dikwa" in Nigeria, about 100km [60 miles] from the border with Niger, a senior Cameroonian officer told AFP. | |
| "They are in the hands of the Nigerian authorities." |