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| Africa North |
| Timbuktu, the rear base of the Mauritanian army against AQIM |
| 2010-10-05 |
| [Ennahar] At about sixty miles from Timbuktu (north-western Mali), a dozen pickups vehicles lined. On board, soldiers, weapons in hand. These are Mauritanian soldiers who, in the Malian desert, hunt the members of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb. "We have given the green light to our Mauritanian neighbors so they can come to our territory, fight the common enemy, AQIM", told AFP a local official of the Malian army. September 17 - the day after the abduction by AQIM of seven people including five French, in Niger - Mauritanian army launched an offensive against a unit of AQIM led by Yahya Abu Hamam, in the region of Timbuktu (900 km north-east of Bamako). Deadly fightings had opposed them for a few days. Since then, several dozen Mauritanian soldiers took up their quarters in the area. "We have no right to speak to the press," joked one of them, at gun in hand, to the AFP correspondent. Then he gave the order to his elements to continue their journey. And the column starts moving slowly, towards the far north. Machine guns are mounted on several vehicles. Tail of the convoy, a soldier keeps his finger on the trigger. The elements of AQIM - whose number is estimated at several hundred in the Sahel - are reputed to be strategists. "Therefore, we and the Mauritanians, we are on our guard," said a Malian military. They were able to "lay mines," he said. "This is one of their techniques. They even hide the mines on the corpses of slain enemies to those who seek the bodies explode". According to the overlap of the AFP, the Mauritanian army is present on at least two sites in the region. The instructions given to soldiers are firm: ban on driving alone in the desert. These are units that move. |
| Posted by:Fred |