Algerian govt says diplomats abducted in northern Mali

The Algerian consul and six consular staff have been abducted in the northern Mali town of Gao, now controlled by Tuareg-led separatists, the Algerian government said on Thursday.

But a spokesman for the separatist rebels said they had nothing to do with the abduction, blaming instead Islamists who fought alongside the Tuaregs to drive government forces out of northern Mali.

"Algeria's consul in Gao and six consular officials were forced to leave the diplomatic mission building. They are currently under the control of parties which we do not know," Algeria's official APS news agency quoted Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci as saying.

"The Algerian government is doing everything possible to ensure they are freed as quickly as possible," he said. The separatists, known as the MNLA, want to create an independent homeland in northern Mali and in the past few weeks have driven out government forces from the region.

A spokesman for the MNLA in Gao, Mohamed Ag Attaher, told Reuters by telephone: "The consul and his family were taken this morning from their residence."

"It was the Islamists, not the MNLA. The Islamists are doing this to sabotage our activities," he said. Algeria is Mali's northern neighbour. It has been fighting a long campaign against Islamist militants on its own soil and its officials are frequently targeted for attacks by al Qaeda's north African branch.   

(Reporting by Christian Lowe in Algiers and Mark John in Dakar)