Militants claim French botch hostage rescue in Somalia

MOGADISHU: Somali militants claimed Saturday that a French commando unit had botched an attempt overnight to free a hostage in southern Somalia, leaving several dead.

"Mujahedeen fighters defeated the so-called commandos of the French government who tried to rescue a hostage, and they (the commandos) left the bodies of several of their own at the site of the attack," Sheikh Mohamed Abdallah, a local military commander, told AFP.