France Denies Cameroon Hostages Are Free

The French Foreign Affairs Minister has described reports that a kidnapped family of French hostages has been freed as “without basis”

The ministry's crisis cell said that both the Cameroonian and Nigerian governments have denied the reports.

Earlier French media reported that the family had been found in a house in a Nigerian town not far from the border with Cameroon.

The ministry rapped reporters over the knuckles with a call for "the greatest discretion" in the case of hostage crises "out of respect for the families".