A French intelligence officer held hostage in Somalia for three and a half years is believed to be dead after a failed rescue attempt.<br/> <br />Seen here in a video broadcast by al Qaeda-linked insurgents, Denis Allex was one of two intelligence officers captured in Mogadishu in July 2009.<br/> <br />The other man escaped a month later.<br/> <br />The defence minister said Allex and a French soldier are believed dead after "very violent combat" with Somali insurgents Friday night.<br/> <br />But the militants holding Allex said in a statement he was alive and far from the base that was raided.<br/> <br />The al-Shabaab group also said they were holding an injured French soldier.
