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| Africa North |
| AQIM cells vie for control of Spanish hostages |
| 2010-08-16 |
| [Maghrebia] Radical al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) cell leader Abdelhamid Abu Zeid "is doing everything possible to endanger the lives" of the two Spanish hostages held by another AQIM branch in the northern Mali desert, a Malian negotiator told AFP on Saturday (August 14th). Algerian national Abu Zeid, who was responsible for beheading British hostage Edwin Dyer in 2009, is reportedly pressuring rival AQIM cell leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar (aka Lâaouar) not to release humanitarian aid workers Albert Vilalta and Roque Pascual. The men were kidnapped last November in Mauritania and are now in the hands of Belmokhtar's group. In related news, Malian national Omar Sid'Ahmed Ould Hamma (aka Omar Sahraoui), whose 12-year forced labour sentence for kidnapping the Spaniards was upheld last week by a Nouakchott court, will be extradited to his home country, Journal Tahalil reported on Saturday. |
| Posted by:Fred |