( CNN ) -- French radio journalists Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon have been found dead in northern Mali , the French Foreign Ministry said Saturday . The two Radio France International reporters were kidnapped Saturday morning after conducting interviews with a Tuareg rebel near the northern town of Kidal , a local governor said , according to RFI sister network France Info . Verlon and Dupont `` were abducted by four men aboard a Toyota , '' Kidal Gov . Adama Kamissoko said while in Bamako , according to France Info . Kidal was one of the strongholds of the Islamic militant Tuareg uprising last year that plunged Mali into chaos after a military-led coup . Following the coup , the al Qaeda-linked Tuareg rebels occupied the northern half of the country . Earlier this year , as part of France 's intervention to flush out Islamist militants in Mali , the French military secured the area around Kidal , the last major town that was under rebel control in northern Mali . The two reporters were abducted in front of the home a member of the Tuareg rebels ' National Movement of a Liberation of Azawad , RFI reported . The two journalists could be heard resisting their abduction , according to their driver , who was forced by the gunmen to lay on the ground , RFI said . French President Francois Hollande condemned the killings , calling them `` despicable , '' according to a statement released by the presidential palace . The kidnapping and deaths come the same week that four long-held French hostages were released . They had been abducted by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in neighboring Niger and had been held since 2010 .
NEW : The journalists were abducted after interviewing a rebel , RFI reports . French President Francois Hollande calls the killings `` despicable '' The French Foreign Ministry confirms the deaths . The journalists worked for Radio France International .