Kidnapped Swiss Christian Freed Amid Mali’s Unrest

Beatrice Stockly

Kidnapped Swiss Christian Freed Amid Mali’s Unrest: "Rebels release Beatrice Stockly as country forms transitional government.

ISTANBUL, April 27 (CDN) — Separatist Islamist rebels released a Swiss Christian woman kidnapped by a private militia on April 15 amid political turmoil in Timbuktu, Mali, according to a Swiss foreign ministry statement.


Armed members of the militant Islamic group Ansar Dine handed Beatrice Stockly to Swiss diplomats on Tuesday (April 24), Reuters reported.


Before rebels captured Timbuktu on April 1, most Westerners had reportedly left due to fears of being kidnapped and passed on to Al-Qaeda cells. The terrorist group’s North African branch, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has been holding Westerners for millions of dollars in ransom payments from previous kidnappings in recent years."

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