A second French soldier has died from gunshot wounds after an attempt to rescue a French agent failed on Saturday, Somalia's al Shabaab rebel group said on Monday.

"The second commando died from his bullet wounds. We shall display the bodies of the two French men," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for al Shabaab's military operations, told Reuters by telephone.

The hostage at the centre of the failed mission, Denis Allex, was still alive and his fate would be decided later, Musab said. The French government on Saturday said it believed Allex had been killed in the operation.

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