Kidnappers Say They Beheaded Monks

A Muslim militant group said Thursday it beheaded seven French monks it had kidnapped in Algeria because France refused to release its jailed comrades.

The Armed Islamic Group, the most militant of Algeria’s armed factions, said in a statement to Tangiers, Morocco, radio station Medi 1 that it killed the monks on Tuesday.

The Trappist monks were kidnapped March 27 from their monastery near the town of Medea, about 40 miles south of the Algerian capital Algiers. Church officials say they were taken by armed men who claimed to be seeking a doctor for a wounded comrade.

France has been angrily pressing for the monks’ freedom, and Pope John Paul II also appealed for their release.