France hopes to contact al-Qaeda in order to obtain news on the fate of five of its nationals kidnapped in west Africa last week, Defence Minister Herve Morin said Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, al-Qaeda has warned Paris not to attempt to rescue the five French nationals kidnapped by the jihadists in Niger, SITE monitoring group said Thursday, as France mobilised its forces to find them.
   
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb posted a statement on jihadist forums in  which it said the kidnappings came in the "context of retaliation" promised by AQIM leader Abu Musab Abdul Wadud to France, the US-based group said.
   
SITE said the statement carried a warning to France that they should not  attempt another rescue mission "like they had done for Michel Germaneau."
   
AQIM militants have made increasing threats against France and its citizens since a July deadly Sahara raid in a bid to rescue French hostage Michel Germaneau in which seven of its members were killed.
   
The group said it had executed the 78-year-old as a reprisal for the raid, vowing further revenge against France.
   
Gunmen seized the five French nationals along with a Togolese and a Madagascan on September 16 in a raid on French firms working in northern Niger's uranium fields. France says it believes they are still alive.
   
They are now thought to have taken the captives to a remote corner of Mali.
   
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday that France will mobilise all its organs of state to ensure the release of hostages.
   
Many of the states of North and West Africa, including Niger, Algeria, Mali and Mauritania, are former French colonies, and France has military trainers working along some of the local troops.
   

SITE quoted AQIM as saying in the statement that Western companies "that steal our wealth and take advantage of our people should know that they are legitimate targets for the mujahedeen and they should leave promptly, because our land is not a field for plunder and our wealth is not something to be taken advantage of."
   
In Paris, AQIM's claim to have abducted the seven was authenticated, but no demands had been received from the hostage-takers.
   
"We have not received proof of life, but we have good reasons to believe  the hostages are alive," French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said on Wednesday after AQIM claimed responsibility.
   
Source: AFP