SUSPECTED Islamic fundamentalist gunmen abducted seven French Trappist monks early yesterday in the biggest kid napping of foreigners in four years of unrest in Algeria, officials said.
Algerian security forces started a manhunt after the seven were kidnapped at around 1.30 a.m. mom an isolated monastery near a militant Muslim strong about 100 km south west of Algiers.
Security services said the raid had been carried out by a "criminal group", the term used for Islamic militant rebels.
The Bishop of Oran, Dr Henri Claverie, said the monks, all of whom were aged over 50, included a doctor aged 82.
Bishop Claverie said two other monks who were not seized believed the gang carried out the raid because it needed medical help, and stressed he was thus hopeful that the monks could be spared.
We think that the group needs medical assistance,", Dr Claverie said. "There is a major operation by the army in the region at the moment and the armed gangs must have wounded people. "The daily Le Ma tin reported on Monday, that recent clashes in the region left 17 Islamic fundamentalists dead.
"If they had wanted to kill them, they would have done it on the spot," Dr Claverie added.
Islamic militants took up arms against the Algerian authorities in 1992 after the army intervened to cancel the second round of general elections the now outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win.
But the Islamist movement has since fragmented, and on Wednesday the FIS leadership in exile in Bonn denounced the kidnapping, and called for the immediate release of the monks.
Dr Claverie said that people at the monastery were asleep when the raiders came, according to the two monks in an adjoining building who escaped abduction, together with a number of priests and nuns visiting the premises.
In Rome meanwhile, the Trappist order said the kidnappers had initially tried to take off just the elderly medic, who is known for his work with the sick and injured of all factions in the region.
After the father superior objected, the raiders abducted him as well as the others.
Despite suggestions that the raid was aimed at procuring medical help, the monks could still be used as hostages or bargaining chips for the release of extremists held by Algerian authorities, and the Archbishop of Algiers, Dr Henri Teissier, issued a plea for the lives of the captives.
The Trappist order has been based at the monastery, a few kilometres from Medea, since 1934. Living without protection, the monks run a farm and produce honey.
The French Foreign Minister, Mr Herve de Charette, reiterated a call for all French nationals to quit Algeria after the kidnapping.
A total of 109 foreigners; including 32 people from France, have been killed in attacks blamed on the fundamentalists.