A Frenchman held for more than three years by al Qaeda’s North African branch was freed yesterday, days after two of the men implicated in his abduction were released.

Gunmen murdered a German man in Mali’s most famous city and seized three men from the Netherlands, South Africa and Sweden, as officials ordered a plane to evacuate foreigners from the tourist destination.

A European tourist was shot dead and three others kidnapped by gunmen who burst into a restaurant in the Malian city of Timbuktu, a witness said today.