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Tourists shot dead in Mauritania | |
(30 minutes later) | |
Four French tourists have been shot dead in Mauritania, police say. | Four French tourists have been shot dead in Mauritania, police say. |
The deaths occurred during a robbery, the police chief of the nearby town of Aleg told news agency Associated Press. | |
The people attacked were a family and at least two children were among the dead, the French embassy in Mauritania told the AFP news agency. | |
A fifth person - said to be the father of the family - was seriously injured in the attack, about 250km (160 miles) east of the capital, Nouakchott. | |
The wounded man was receiving treatment in hospital in Aleg but would be transferred immediately to Nouakchott, the French embassy official added. | |
Demands | |
The five had stopped on the side of a road for a picnic when the gunmen approached demanding money, Aleg police chief Mohamed Ould Lemine told AP. | |
The gunmen took their money and then opened fire with automatic weapons, before speeding off in a car, the police chief said. | |
Mauritania is one of the world's poorest countries, but has hopes for future prosperity based on the exploitation of its offshore reserves of oil and natural gas. | Mauritania is one of the world's poorest countries, but has hopes for future prosperity based on the exploitation of its offshore reserves of oil and natural gas. |