French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Monday that weakness in the face of terrorism would be “a grave error,” after a failed bid to rescue French hostages in Africa whose kidnapping was blamed on Al-Qaeda.
Sarkozy made the comments at the White House, where he met with President Barack Obama who offered condolences over the deaths of the two French hostages captured in Niger.
French officials said the two men were killed “in cold blood” by their captors during a French rescue attempt after they were chased across the border into Mali by Niger forces on Saturday.