France's last remaining hostage, Serge Lazarevic, arrived home Wednesday after three years in the hands of Islamist militants as questions swirled around the terms of his release.

The government has refused to comment on reports that several Al-Qaida prisoners, including those involved in kidnapping Lazarevic in Mali in 2011, were released in exchange for his freedom.

France's only remaining hostage held abroad, Serge Lazarevic, who was kidnapped in Mali in 2011, has been freed and is in "relatively good health", French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday.

"Our hostage Serge Lazarevic, our last hostage is free," Hollande said. "There are no more French hostages in any country in the world."

The U.N. appealed Monday for $16.4 billion (13.4 billion euros) to provide aid to nearly 60 million people worldwide next year, with almost half the amount aimed at helping victims of Syria's drawn-out conflict.

"The rising scale of need is outpacing our capacity to respond," warned United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, stressing that 2014 has been marked by a sharp rise in the number of people affected by violent conflicts.

Two soldiers in a convoy providing security to a government minister were killed Tuesday when they drove over a landmine in northern Mali, a defense ministry official told AFP.

Rural Development Minister Bocary Tereta was unhurt in the attack, and it was not clear whether he was the intended target as the area, a hotbed of militant activity on the edge of the Sahara desert, is heavily mined.

Turkish lawmakers approved Thursday sending troops on a year-long mission with EU forces in the Central African Republic and Mali as Turkey continues efforts to bolster its presence in the region.

The motion passed easily with support from the ruling party and the main opposition, although the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) voted against it, the private Dogan news agency reported.

French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday warned that "extreme horror" films used by terrorist groups could harm young people, after fresh footage emerged of Western hostages held by North African jihadists.

"Why this video?", said Hollande of the recording from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb showing a French and a Dutch tourist they have been holding hostage for several years.

The North African jihadist group al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb released a video Monday purporting to show a French and a Dutch hostage held since November 2011 in the Sahara.

In the video, found on the Internet by the private terrorism watchdog SITE, French national Serge Lazarevic and a man identifying himself as Sjaak Rijke appeal to their governments to negotiate their release.

Human Rights Watch has criticized a draft agreement to bring peace to conflict-hit Mali, saying Monday the deal would not provide justice for abuses committed by all sides.

The accord, seen by an Agence France-Presse correspondent in Bamako, has been accepted by the government and rebel groups ahead of talks scheduled to begin on November 20 in Algiers.

Two Malian soldiers have been killed and four wounded by an improvised bomb in the conflict-torn west African nation's restive northern desert, the government said.

The troops died on Sunday morning when they were blown up by the device in the town of Almoustrate, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Gao, the largest city in the north.

Fighting between French military forces and jihadists continued overnight in northern Mali where soldiers are carrying out a large-scale operation, the army said Thursday after a staff sergeant was killed.

Thomas Dupuy, a 32-year-old Afghanistan veteran who belonged to a commando parachute group, was killed in violent clashes with hardline Islamists in Mali's Tigharghar mountain range early Wednesday, as part of an operation aimed at stemming the return of jihadists in the north.