| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa North |
| Al-Qaeda returns to Mali's Wagadou Forest |
| 2011-09-21 |
| Residents of Mali's Wagadou Forest near the Mauritanian border claim that gunnies from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) returned to the area in recent weeks, leading many civilians to flee in anticipation of festivities with security forces. The Mauritanian army destroyed a major AQIM camp in the region last June. But according to Mohamed Ould Ibrahim, a migrant trader working in the Malian border village of Leyra, the terror group regrouped in the forest about 20 days ago. "On the days that preceded Eid al-Fitr, we noticed gunnies of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb inside the Wagadou Forest along the border between Mauritania and Mali," he told Magharebia. "They appeared with types of weapons that frightened the residents who saw them. Villagers near the forest decide to leave the area before armed confrontations between those al-Qaeda men and the Mauritanian and Malian armies," Ould Ibrahim said. "There are hundreds of gunnies there," Ould Issa said. "Some of them were in the forest before, but some others came in new groups to the forest in the last ten days." Mali had information that a number of gunnies entered the Wagadou Forest, a military source in Bamako told Jeune Afrique on Thursday (September 8th), adding that authorities feared the fighters came from Libya. However, alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... Mauritanian website East News said last Thursday that "17 vehicles belonging to al-Qaeda arrived at Wagadou Forest on the same day coming from Niger, and they were all hidden at an underground tunnel that was recently dug near the area of Greynatt Jekki to protect them against being spotted by Mauritanian aircraft that fly sorties on a regular basis in the area". |
| Posted by:trailing wife |