Mali arrests 12 suspects in French journalists murder

Police in Mali announced they arrested ten suspects on the kidnapping and murder of two French journalists in the north of the country. 

Claude Verlon and Ghislaine Dupont were killed on a desert track just outside Kidal.

The kidnapping and subsequent murders took place close to a military compound where hundreds of UN and French troops are based.

The journalists, working for Radio France International, had just interviewed Tuareg separatist official on Saturday when they were kidnapped by four men, forced into a truck and shot.

The bodies of the journalists have been flown to the capital Bamako and are expected to return to France on Monday.

France led a military operation to clear Islamist rebels from the north of Mali earlier this year and handed over security to a UN contingent in the summer.