Sarkozy Vows Revenge After al-Qaida Beheads Man Dana Kennedy Contributor AOL News NICE, France (July 26) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed today to seek revenge on the North African wing of al-Qaida for beheading an elderly French aid worker after a joint Franco-Mauritanian raid to rescue him last week failed. Michel Germaneau, 78, a retired engineer who had been helping build a school for Tuareg nomads, was kidnapped April 19 in northern Niger. The area is in the volatile "Red Zone" on the southern rim of the Sahara desert. His captors told French officials on July 11 that they would kill him in two weeks unless France agreed to a prisoner exchange. Mairie de Marcoussis/Enmilal/AP Michel Germaneau, a 78-year-old French aid worker, was beheaded by the North African wing of al-Qaida. French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the killing and vowed revenge on Monday. "I condemn this barbarous act, this odious act which has put an end to the life of an innocent man who was there to help the local population," Sarkozy said today in a televised address. "This crime committed against Michel Germaneau will not go unpunished." Sarkozy also warned French nationals not to travel to the desolate desert region that includes Mauritania, Mali, Niger and southern Algeria. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is an Islamic insurgent group that aims to overthrow the Algerian government. But questions remain amid some official versions of what happened in Thursday's desert raid and why Germaneau's body -- like that of a British national, Edwin Dyer, killed by the same group in June 2009 after six months as a hostage -- has not been recovered. Agence France-Presse reported today that an anonymous local official in Mali said Germaneau had been beheaded in front of AQIM leader Abu Musab Abdul-Wadud in retaliation for Thursday's raid. "(Germaneau) was still alive during the raid but hidden in a mountainous zone in the Kidal region, near the border with Algeria. The place is an impregnable fortress, where the Islamists have laid mines and built shelters to protect themselves from any air attack," the official told AFP. But on Sunday, AFP quoted a senior French official as saying many thought Germaneau had been dead for several weeks. Germaneau had a heart condition and needed medication and had struggled in the desert heat. Details were also murky about the isolated raid by French and Mauritanian troops on an al-Qaida camp in Mali where Germaneau was thought to be held hostage. Six al-Qaida members were killed, but Germaneau was not found. On Sunday, Al-Jazeera released an audio statement by Abdul-Wadud. "Sarkozy was unable to free his compatriot through this failed operation, but he definitely opened one of the gates of hell on himself, his people and his nation," Abdul-Wadud said. "As a quick response to the despicable French act, we confirm that we have killed hostage Germaneau in revenge for our six brothers who were killed in the treacherous operation," said the voice on the tape, which was said to be similar to that on other recordings attributed to Abdul-Wadud. The French newspaper Nouvel Observateur said an arsenal of weapons and munitions was found in the camp during the raid. Both Nouvel Observateur and the blog Diaspora Sahara indicated that the raid had been initiated by Mauritanian military forces to thwart an attack by al-Qaida, and that the French joined them. Diaspora Sahara also quoted sources in the region as saying that while Germaneau's rescue was the reason cited for the raid, its actual, more complex motive involved Mauritania hoping to provoke a chain of reprisals in the volatile region and eventually upset current U.S. relations with Algeria. Filed under: World