Islamist Group Says Holding Romanian Hostage Seized in Burkina

Mauritania's Alakhbar news website said late on Monday, An Islamist militant group says it is holding a Romanian man kidnapped from a mine in Burkina Faso last month. The Romanian security officer, named by local media as Iulian Ghergut, was seized from the Tambao manganese mining project in northern Burkina Faso on April 4. The mine is operated by Pan African Minerals, a subsidiary of Romanian-Australian businessman Frank Timis's Timis Corporation, and is near the border with Mali's turbulent north. the Romanian foreign ministry said in a statement released on Tuesday "Competent Romanian authorities, represented in the inter-institutional crisis cell created by the foreign ministry after the abduction, are urgently verifying the information presented in the news, including the audio message,"