Three detained in Mauritania

Three Mauritanians were arrested late on Monday after gunmen shot dead four French tourists, including two children, and badly wounded a fifth in southern Mauritania, a security official said.

The attack occurred at Aleg, 250km east of the capital, the security official said.

Two men and a woman were arrested at Aleg and were being interrogated by police.

The five French tourists -- a family of four and a friend -- were heading for Mali when they were confronted by a gang of three armed people 20km outside Aleg who demanded their money before gunning them down, the interior ministry said in a statement late on Monday.

Three members of the family -- including two children -- and the friend were killed. The father was seriously wounded and was being treated in a Nouakchott hospital, Mauritanian President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi said.

"The ministry regrets and condemns this criminal act that contradicts our values of tolerance," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.