A suspected al-Qaeda member on trial in Mauritania for alleged involvement in the December 2007 slaughter of four French tourists escaped from a Nouakchott courthouse following a hearing on Tuesday (April 2nd). Sidi Ould Sidna reportedly asked for permission to visit the restroom and fled shortly afterwards amid loose police surveillance. | "Sidi's escaped from the crappoir!" "Out the window?" "There is no window!" "Did you look down the drain?" |
| "Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! You, too, girly!" |
Sidna and four other alleged members of a Mauritanian al-Qaeda affiliate were arrested in Guinea-Bissau in January. The group is suspected of gunning down four French tourists and injuring a fifth on December 24th in Eastern Mauritania. Four additional suspects remain at large.