Paris says that some 30 Iraqi Christians wounded in a deadly Al-Qaeda hostage crisis at a Baghdad church will be flown to France for treatment.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who is on a two-day visit to Lebanon, told reporters in Beirut that a French plane will bring the wounded to France by November 8.

At least 46 hostages, including two priests, were killed on October 31 in a raid by Iraqi security forces to end the hostage-taking by Al-Qaeda gunmen in a Syriac Catholic cathedral during Sunday mass.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty