Al-Qaeda Beheads French Aid Worker

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to avenge the death of a 78-year-old French aid worker beheaded by al-Qaeda's North African wing. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb says it executed Michel Germaneau in retaliation for the death of six militants when French commandos raided a camp in Mali in an effort to free him, Reuters reports.

Germaneau was kidnapped in Niger in the spring, and France launched the failed rescue mission after al-Qaeda threatened to kill him unless a prisoner exchange was arranged. "Convinced that he was condemned to a certain death, it was our duty to try to save him from his captors. Unfortunately, he was not there," Sarkozy said. "Far from weakening our determination, his death must reinforce it."
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