French soldiers hunt for abducted workers in Niger (AP)

NIAMEY, Niger � Dozens of French soldiers operating out of a hotel in Niger's capital and using reconnaissance flights over the Sahara searched Monday for seven workers for a French firm who were kidnapped from near a uranium mine and seemingly swallowed by the vast desert.

"Their mission is to help Niger's military find the seven kidnapped people," said Niger government spokesman Mahamane Laouli Dan Dah.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal told reporters in Paris that it is "highly probable" that al-Qaida's North Africa branch, known as AQIM, is behind the kidnappings. Five of those kidnapped by gunmen Thursday are French citizens.

A defense official in the neighboring nation of Mali confirmed French reconnaissance planes have been deployed to Niger's capital. He said Mali would allow them to fly over its territory in the search. The captors and their hostages were last seen headed northwest toward Mali and Algeria. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.

A spokesman for French nuclear manufacturer Areva acknowledged there were security "breakdowns" before the abductions. A man who worked for Areva and his wife were among those kidnapped near the mining town of Arlit. The other five are employees of a subcontractor called Satom.

Areva used employed private unarmed security agents and had rejected an offer by Niger to provide security, Dah said. Areva spokesman Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier said security arrangements had been made according to an agreement with the Niger government.

"Niger is a sovereign country, and neither in this country nor in any others around the world are our guards armed," Saulnier told France-Info radio.

Areva, a leading global nuclear manufacturer, gets much of its uranium from Niger, one of the world's poorest countries. Areva has said work at the mine in northern Niger, with some 2,500 employees, would not be hindered by the withdrawal of several dozen expatriate staff who were evacuated after the kidnappings.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, in July executed a 78-year-old French aid worker the group had taken hostage. Michel Germaneau was slain in Mali three months after his abduction in Niger in April. AQIM said he was killed in retaliation for the deaths of six al-Qaida members in a military operation in the Sahara.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said France will do whatever it can to free the seven hostages. In an online briefing, Nadal said French authorities have received neither a claim of responsibility or proof of life. One of the hostages is from Togo and one is from Madagascar.

Aid groups say Niger is currently facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, with almost half the country's population in desperate need of food and up to one in six children suffering from acute malnutrition. Niger's government is being run by a military council after a February coup ousted President Mamadou Tandja.

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Associated Press Writer Jenny Barchfield in Paris contributed to this report.

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