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Africa North
Sahara terrorist groups merge, threaten French interests
2013-08-23
Two terrorist militant groups that broke away from Al Qaeda's North African wing and fought in Mali have merged, pledging to attack French interests, according to a statement published on Thursday.

The move unites terrorist fighters led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the alleged mastermind of an attack on an Algerian gas plant in January, with MUJWA, an Islamist group that was scattered by a French offensive on Al Qaeda-linked rebels in Mali this year. The two terrorist groups had already jointly claimed responsibility for raids in May that killed dozens at a barracks and damaged a uranium mine operated by France's Areva in Niger.

The new name for the group was given as Al Mourabitoun. It was not immediately clear who had been named its leader.
"It is the birth of a group that includes Mujahideen and even Muslims in North Africa from the country of the Nile and the Atlantic," Mauritania's Nouakchott Information Agency, ANI, quoted Belmokhtar as saying in a statement it received.

It was not possible to independently verify the report but North African militants frequently use ANI to publish their statements.

The new name for the group was given as Al Mourabitoun. It was not immediately clear who had been named its leader.

Belmokhtar is quoted as saying the group aimed to create an Islamic state and recent events in Egypt had shown how the "Zionist and Crusader" forces wanted to destroy Islam.

In the statement sent to ANI, Belmokhtar said the group would concentrate on attacking French interests.

"We say to France and its allies in the region ... the Mujahideen have met and agreed to defeat your armies and destroy your plans and projects," he said.
Posted by:Steve White

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