Not “What we want is, firstly, is to inflict so much damage on al-Qaeda that they will never take French hostages again.”
“France asks al-Qaeda for demands over Niger hostages,” from the BBC, September 23 (thanks to Twostellas):
France wants to contact an al-Qaeda group which seized five of its citizens and two others at a uranium mine in Niger last week, a minister has said.
“What we want is, firstly, for al-Qaeda at some point to at least put some demands on the table,” Defence Minister Herve Morin told French radio.
A French military team is in Niger to help find the hostages who include a Togolese and a Malagasy national.
The militants killed a French hostage after a failed rescue bid in July….
A new statement attributed to the group appeared on Islamist forums on Thursday, warning France against trying to rescue its citizens….