Mali gunmen abduct two French nationals from hotel

First kidnapping of westerners in Mali to occur south of the Niger river, away from al-Qaida-linked militants in the country's north

Mali gunmen kidnapped two French nationals from this hotel, the Dombia in Hombori. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Gunmen abducted two French citizens from a hotel in northern Mali early on Thursday, the first such attack in the area located far from the bases of al-Qaida-linked militants in the country's north, according to the French foreign ministry.

"Two of our compatriots were kidnapped in Mali in conditions that we do not know much about yet ... We are gathering information," said the French foreign minister, Alain Juppé.

Militants linked with al-Qaida have previously brought hostages to Mali from neighbouring Niger, Mauritania and Algeria, holding them in the desert for months.

But Thursday's kidnapping, in the town of Hombori, undermines the Malian government's position that most hostages are abducted elsewhere in the region, where borders are porous.

"All these problems have always taken place a long way from us," said Maoulou Daou, a hotel owner in Hombori.

The men, believed to be geologists working about 20 miles outside the town, were abducted from a nearby hotel after the gunmen tied up the manager, guard and cook and went in search of the foreigners.

Military vehicles have been arriving from neighbouring towns, and security personnel have surrounded Hombori in search of the gunmen.

It is the first kidnapping of westerners in Mali that has occurred south of the Niger river. If the hostage-taking is linked to al-Qaida's north Africa branch – the only group known to take hostages in this region – they will have to be transported across the river before they can be moved to the group's bases in the far north of the country.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, once concentrated in its home base of Algeria, has rendered huge swaths of Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Algeria off limits to foreigners.

This latest incident brings to six the number of French nationals being held hostage in the region, after four others were kidnapped by militants in Niger last year. Two Spaniards and two Italians are also being held.