Al-Qaida group releases tape of French hostages

A tape released Thursday shows the first images of a group of foreign hostages working for a French energy company who were seized in Niger two weeks ago by an al-Qaida offshoot, according to a group that monitors terrorism.

The four-minute video shows the hostages sitting cross-legged in the sand with a gently sloping dune behind them. Standing behind them are men brandishing automatic weapons who are wearing turbans and flowing robes.

They were grabbed in the middle of the night on Sept. 16 from their guarded villas in the uranium mining town of Arlit in Niger where they worked for French nuclear giant Areva. Five are French citizens, the other two are from Togo and Madagascar.

The French Foreign Ministry said the tape was encouraging because it shows the hostages alive.

"This photograph has been authenticated. Even if we don't know what date it was taken it constitutes an encouraging sign in the sense that it shows all the hostages alive," a ministry statement said, adding that France "is doing everything to obtain their liberation."

In the tape, the hostages are questioned about their names, ages and marital status, according to a translation provided to reporters by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group. The audio recording is accompanied by photographs.

The hostages are also asked if they know who their kidnappers are. They acknowledge the kidnappers are al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, a terror group that began in Algeria and brokered an alliance with al-Qaida in 2006.

Since then, they have kidnapped dozens of European hostages and are believed to be using ransom payments paid by foreign governments to bankroll their operation.