The abductors of the two kidnappedFrench journalist have handed them over to a Sunni group thatfavors their release, said information circulating here Thursday.

The French government will be announcing the details later inParis, suggested the information.

Meanwhile, reports reaching here from Paris also said that thetwo French journalists are no longer in the hands of theirabductors.

French Culture and Communications Minister Renaud Donnedieu deVabres was quoted as saying that "we know that they are alive andno longer in the hands of the abductors who had held them."

Earlier, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told the pressin the Jordanian capital of Amman that the two reporters werealive.

Barnier made the comment in Amman after meeting Muslim clericswho had been in Iraq trying to secure the release of the kidnappedjournalists.

Barnier said from the information he had received the pair were"alive and getting good treatment".

The two French newsmen, Malbrunot who works for Le Figaronewspaper and 37-year-old Radio France correspondent ChristianChesnot, went missing in Iraq on Aug. 20.

Late Saturday, a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraqclaimed it had kidnapped Malbrunot and Chesnot.

The Sunni Muslim group first gave Paris 48 hours, then extendedit for another 24 hours, to rescind its controversial ban on thewearing of Islamic headscarves in state schools and universities.

Source: Xinhua