Seven people employed at French nuclear company kidnapped in Niger

Seven people connected to a French nuclear company in Niger were kidnapped early Thursday near the country's uranium-rich mining zone.

A French Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bernard Valero, said the seven, including five French citizens, were kidnapped in Arlit, in northern Niger.

"France will do everything to liberate them, as we do each time," President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters. He said the hostages had been captured in two locations, New York Times reports.

French nuclear giant Areva and Vinci engineering group subsidiary Satom admitted seven people including the wife of one of their employees were abducted on Thursday in the Arlit region some 800 kilometres northeast of the capital, Niamey.

Niger government spokesman Laouali Dan Dah said that the police and military have been called to find the seven, including five French nationals, a Togolese and a Malagasy.

There is no indication as to who abducted the seven Touareg rebels, armed bandits and the group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, AQIM, operate in the area, RFI reports.