Malian officials say a key militant group has "certainly" been responsible for the abduction of Sophie Petronin, a French aid worker known for years of charity work in the West African country.
"The first indications show that she was certainly taken hostage by a terrorist group, al-Mourabitoun," prosecutor Boubacar Sidiki Samake said on Wednesday, without elaborating.
Mourabitoun is a major militant group operating in North Africa and the Sahara. The group, which is led by Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, has yet to claim responsibility for the alleged kidnapping last weekend in northern Mali.
The French-Swiss aid worker, who has run a charity for malnourished children and had lived in Gao for 15 years, has not been seen publicly since December 24. The woman is believed to be in her sixties and has a specialty in nutrition and tropical diseases. Petronin escaped a kidnapping by militants in Gao in 2012.
France's Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Petronin was kidnapped, adding that a joint search operation has been launched to find the aid worker. Other sources said French military forces were also contributing to the search operation.
Violence erupted in Mali's volatile north after groups linked to al-Qaeda seized areas in the territory in March 2012. The government, pro-government groups and ethnic Tuareg rebels managed to reach a peace pact last year, following some lengthy negotiations but clashes continue unabated.
Mourabitoun, Ansar Dine and an al-Qaeda-linked group have carried out major attacks in Mali from bases in the country’s desert north.