The terror group announced on June 22 that eight European hostages it is holding are still alive and will appear in a video soon. AQIM also repeated its threat to kill the hostages if France intervenes again in North Africa, but said it is open to negotiations for their release. President Hollande said France is looking for contacts and wants to free the hostages. French media reports say the hostages have been moved to Algeria and are under the control of new AQIM chief Yahia Abou el Hamam.
