Updated

France's president says his country must fight harder against terrorists in Africa, after two suicide bombings apparently staged by extremists angry over the French military intervention in Mali.

Francois Hollande, in a sweeping speech Friday on this nuclear-armed country's military doctrine, said, "We will stay in Mali and around Mali because we haven't finished with terrorism."

He said the twin attacks in Niger on Thursday — including one on a French-operated uranium mine — are "additional proof" that France should help African countries "confronted with this plague of terrorism."

The carefully planned attacks in Niger killed 26 people, and a surviving attacker took a group of Niger soldiers hostage. An al-Qaida spinoff, MUJAO, claimed responsibility. MUJAO is among those targeted by a 4-month-old French-led military operation in Mali.