Updated

Cameroon's government says a French family of seven kidnapped there two months ago while on vacation has been freed. Neither the French nor Nigerian governments, who were thanked in the statement Friday from the office of the president, could confirm the information.

The Feb. 19 kidnapping came as thousands of French troops were deeply involved in a military intervention against Islamic extremists in the West African country of Mali.

The French gas group GDF Suez has identified the captives as an employee working in Yaounde, the Cameroon capital, and his family. French media say the children are between 5 and 12 years old. They were vacationing in northern Cameroon, near the border with Nigeria.

Cameroon's state radio read the statement from Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the chief of staff.