French Family Abducted in Cameroon Freed

{{Seven members of a French family abducted in Cameroon have been freed, officials in both countries have said.

Cameroon’s Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary told media they were in good condition and unharmed.}}

The family, including four children, were abducted in February by gunmen on motorbikes after a visit to Waza National Park in northern Cameroon.

In a video published on YouTube, militants from the Nigerian group Boko Haram claimed to be holding them.

The release of the hostages was also announced on national radio in Cameroon on Friday morning.

The statement from the presidency said they had been handed over to Cameroon authorities late on Thursday.

According to the Associated Press news agency, both the Nigerian and French governments were thanked in the statement.

The French president’s office confirmed the release and said that Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had immediately left for Cameroon to greet the family.

The family, who live in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, where the father worked for the French gas group Suez, had been returning from a holiday when they were kidnapped on 19 February.

{BBC}