ALGIERS - Algeria recalled its ambassador from Mali on Tuesday to protest at the West African country's decision to set free four suspected Islamist militants wanted by al- Qaeda in exchange for sparing the life of a French hostage. The group's North African wing, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) had said it would execute hostage Pierre Camatte unless the Malian authorities released the four. Algeria, which has for years been fighting Islamist insurgents, is fiercely opposed to any deals being struck with AQIM to secure the release of foreign hostages. On Monday, Mauritania said it was withdrawing its ambassador, also in protest at the release of one of the four, who it said was a Mauritanian al Qaeda member . "Following the decision of the Malian government to carry out the release of the four terrorists...the Algerian government has decided to recall, for consultations, its ambassador in Bamako," Algeria's official APS news agency quoted a foreign ministry statement as saying. It said the Algerian government "strongly condemns and denounces this unfriendly attitude from the Malian government." The release of the four is "a dangerous development for the security and stability of the Sahel-Sahara region and, objectively speaking, serves the interests of the terrorist group active in the region under the al Qaeda banner." The diplomatic row sparked by the release is likely to undermine efforts to adopt a coordinated approach among the state's governments to combating al Qaeda, which is using the Sahara desert as a safe haven.