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| Africa North |
| Despite the deaths, anti-AQIM scores, it is said in Timbuktu |
| 2011-01-17 |
| [Ennahar] Al-Qaeda is no longer "invincible" in the Sahara, say Malians of the region of Timbuktu, sure that the fight against terrorism has scored some points recently, despite the controversial death of two kidnapped Frenchies and three Nigerian coppers in northern Mali. "Before, it was believed that nobody could kill a Salafi," said Mohamed ould Akim, elected in a municipality in the region of Timbuktu (900 km north-east of Bamako). But when, in 2010, "they were seen fleeing after the attack of the Mauritanian and French, when we saw them fleeing the region of Timbuktu after the intervention of the Malian army and especially the Mauritanian army, we understood that they are not invincible." "Before," said a doctor also met in Essakane, on the outskirts of Timbuktu on the sidelines of a cultural festival, "we were a little left" in this vast desert region of northern Mali. "As we live in the bush and there are no security forces, when the Islamists come, we could do nothing. But since the Mauritanian soldiers, Malian and French patrol, we are in peace," he says, under cover of anonymity. A member of the powerful Arab coordination in the region of Timbuktu, Ould Oumar Ibrahim, even said that "today there are more elements of AQIM in the region of Timbuktu." The Franco-Mauritanian raid in July 2010 in northern Mali had failed to free French hostage Michel Germaneau whom AQIM had then announced the death. But Gay Paree has said that seven Islamists had been killed. The Mauritanian army had then led the offensive against the unit of AQIM led by Algerian Yahya Abu Hamam, in the Timbuktu region, scene of deadly fighting. |
| Posted by:Fred |