Tourist shot dead in Mali kidnapping

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.

Moussa Boubacar was inside the Amanar Restaurant when the armed men entered and told the tourists dining there to follow them.

One of them, an elderly man, refused to get inside the car and was killed on the spot.

Timbuktu is one of the many former tourist destinations in Mali that have been deemed too dangerous to visit by foreign embassies due to the risk of kidnapping by the local chapter of al-Qaida.

The kidnapping comes after two French citizens were grabbed in the Malian town of Hombori on Thursday.