PARIS (Reuters) - Hostage takers took seven foreigners across the border into Mali on Friday, a day after abducting them in Niger, French public radio reported, citing security sources.

France suspects al-Qaeda's North African wing of being behind the kidnapping of the mine workers. The hostages include five French nationals, one from Togo and one from Madagascar.

The hostage takers and their captives were seen crossing over the border from Niger into the desert of Mali, Radio France International said, citing security sources from Algeria and Niger.

The kidnapping took place in the town of Arlit, the first of a wave of attacks to have taken place within the mining zone rather than in the remote desert where previous attacks have occurred in the past year.