BAMAKO (REUTERS) - Two French journalists snatched by gunmen in the northern Malian town of Kidal on Saturday have been killed, a local prefect, sources from the Tuareg separatist group MNLA and Malian security services told Reuters.

"A few minutes after a pursuit began for the abductors of the two French, we were informed that their bodies were found riddled with bullets outside the town," said Mr Paul-Marie Sidibe, prefect of the town of Tinzawaten, who is based in Kidal.

A senior MNLA military official also said the bodies had been recovered outside Kidal. A Mali security source said the journalists were killed about 12km outside the town.