Arabic broadcaster Al Jazeera has shown images of seven foreigners, five of them French, kidnapped in Niger by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), DPA reported.
The seven people were kidnapped September 16 in the vicinity of a uranium mine exploited by French nuclear energy firm Areva, near the city of Arlit in northern Niger.
The images, taken from a video and posted on Al Jazeera's website Thursday evening, showed the seven hostages sitting cross-legged in the sand surrounded by armed men. It was not clear when, or where, the footage was shot.
The hostages are believed to now be in north-eastern Mali, in a mountainous region near the border with Algeria.
Two of the French nationals abducted were identified as an Areva employee and his wife. The other five hostages are three French nationals, a Togolese national and a citizen of Madagascar, all of whom worked for the French construction firm Sogea Satom, a subcontractor at the mine.
An estimated 80 French soldiers have set up a base in Niger's capital, Niamey, and French planes were conducting a search over the desert for the kidnapping victims.
Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate has often threatened to attack French interests in the region, particularly after six of its members were killed earlier this year in a raid on one of its bases in Mali by French and Mauritanian soldiers.
That raid was undertaken to rescue a 78-year-old French aid worker, kidnapped in April. The raid failed and the hostage was subsequently executed.
Two Spanish hostages were later released after Spain was believed to have paid millions of euros in ransom.