Two die in Mauritanian gun battle

Sidi Ould Sidna escaped just before going on trial

Mauritanian police investigating the killing of four French tourists have clashed with gunmen in a battle which left two people dead, reports say.

A suspect who escaped from custody last week is thought to have been wounded during the shoot-out on the outskirts of the capital, Nouakchott.

One policeman and a suspected gunman were killed during the clash.

The French tourists' killing on Christmas Eve prompted the cancellation of the Paris-to-Dakar car rally.

Police were "80% sure" that fugitive Sidi Ould Sidna had been wounded during the battle and was in custody, a security official who asked not to be named told the French news agency AFP.

According to an unnamed medical source quoted by Reuters news agency, the fugitive was actually killed.

A Reuters reporter saw scores of heavily armed police driving out of the city on a road leading north after dark on Monday.

"It's a clash with the Salafists [Islamists]," one gendarmerie officer was quoted as saying.

Al-Qaeda link

The fugitive escaped last Wednesday just before he was due to go on trial.

Three of the dead Frenchmen were members of the same family

He is believed to have escaped from a toilet in the courthouse in Nouakchott.

He and a co-accused, Mohamed Ould Chabarnoux, are suspected of killing the French tourists on behalf of al-Qaeda near the southern town of Aleg.

Sidi Ould Sidna was detained in neighbouring Guinea-Bissau after a manhunt across West Africa.

The four Frenchmen killed had been enjoying a family driving holiday. A fifth member of their party survived the attack.

Mauritania is a former French colony and its south enjoys relative stability.

The north of the country is generally regarded as less safe for travellers.