(Christianity Today) A Swiss missionary Beatrice Stöckli—kidnapped from Timbuktu, Mali in January 2016—was killed only weeks before other hostages were freed by Islamist extremists, in an apparent prisoner-hostage swap negotiated by the new transitional government in Mali.
News of her execution came from Sophie Petronin, a 75-year-old French aid worker, freed on October 8, who had apparently been held by the same, or a linked Islamist militia group. (Petronin has converted to Islam and now calls herself Mariam).