Authorities in Mauritania have arrested seven people suspected of being members of an al-Qaida group operating in northwestern Africa that was allegedly plotting attacks on Western targets here, security officials said Wednesday. The seven men allegedly belong to al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, an Algerian group affiliated with Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, a senior security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The seven were arrested this week in different parts of Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott, after tips from an unidentified country in the region where the men had previously traveled, said the official, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak publicly to the press. The men, all Mauritanian citizens, have yet to be charged and are being interrogated, the official said. He did not give details on the nature of the alleged plots.