Beatrice Stoeckli was a missionary from Basel who was working in Timbuktu hen she was taken four years ago — having already been abducted by jihadists once before, in 2012, Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS reported.
The Swiss authorities said in a statement released late Friday that for the past four years they had been working with the Malian authorities and other partners for her release.
The foreign ministry said the French authorities had informed them of Stoeckli's fate based on what French hostage Sophie Petronin, who was released earlier this week, had told them.
Petronin, who had been the last French hostage still being held, arrived back in France on Friday after four years in the hands of jihadists.
Petronin was released by her captors along with a prominent Malian politician, Soumaila Cisse, and two Italian hostages.
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