A Somali Islamist group has handed over one of two French hostages to al Qaeda-linked al Shaabab militants to avoid clashes between the insurgent groups, police said today.
Gunmen from an Islamist faction within President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's security forces seized the two in a Mogadishu hotel on Tuesday, then handed them to Hizbul Islam insurgents.
But al Shabaab demanded that Hizbul Islam give the couple to them, and the two groups had been on the verge of fighting over the French security men.
"We shared the two men to avoid clashes between Islamists," an al Shabaab official told Reuters.
Reuters
