* Niger authorities hunting for hostages, kidnappers
* Paris yet to confirm reports hostages are French
NIAMEY, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Niger&${esc.hash}39;s authorities were searching across the desert nation on Saturday for two men, believed to be French, who were kidnapped in the capital overnight, an official said.
Witnesses said men wearing turbans entered the "Toulousain" bar and whisked two Frenchmen off in a car. France says it is aware of the incident, but has not confirmed whether the men were French.
"I can tell you that the border police have been alerted, as well as the control posts between towns," said a police source.
"Within Niamey, our agents are trying to gather information from witnesses that may help us find the attackers and their victims," he source added.
The incident is the latest in a string of kidnappings in Niger, where hostages have in the past ended up in the hands of al Qaeda&${esc.hash}39;s North African wing, AQIM, which operates across West and North Africa&${esc.hash}39;s vast Sahara desert zone.
"Four men wearing turbans armed with automatic weapons entered the bar. Three went straight to the table the Frenchmen were at while the other one remained at the entrance," said Mamane Rabiou Aboubacar, who was in the bar at the time.
"The attackers spoke in Arabic and then forced the Frenchmen to go with them," he added.
While it is not yet clear if groups linked to al Qaeda were involved, it would be the first kidnapping to take place in the capital, hundreds of kilometres from the lawless desert zones where the Islamists as well as rebels and bandits operate.
In previous cases, AQIM has issued a number of demands, including the release of Islamists jailed by governments in the region.
Hostages have been released after what security experts say have been multi-million dollar ransom payments, although the payments have never been acknowledged.
AQIM is currently holding five French citizens, some of whom work for mining giant Areva, who were among a group of seven foreigners kidnapped from the northern mining town of Arlit in September last year.
Abdelmalek Droukdel, leader of AQIM, has said Paris should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and negotiate directly with al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden if it wants the safe release of its hostages.
France, which has about 1,550 nationals in Niger, has said it was in touch with the hostage-takers but refused to pull troops out of Afghanistan. (Reporting by Abdoulaye Massalatchi; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Peter Graff)
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