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| Africa North |
| Belmokhtar Loses Another Top Deputy |
| 2014-05-19 |
| [Magharebia] An Egyptian terrorist eliminated in Mali was the main weapons supplier for Mokhtar Belmokhtar. A top figure of al-Qaeda breakaway group "Mourabitounes" died last week following a clash with French forces in northern Mali. Abu Bakr Al-Nasr was the logistics chief and weapons procurer for runaway Algerian terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar (aka Laaouar), Le Monde cited a French government official as saying on Saturday (May 10th). According to El Khabar, Egyptian national al-Nasr was active in the transfer of heavy weapons to Belmokhtar's fighters in the desert region near the southern Algerian border. "He did not belong to any of the countries of the Sahel," Mauritanian journalist Boulkheir Ould Bilal Oumar noted. "Being Egyptian made him unknown and that's what made Laaouar exploit that and rely on him for the transfer of weapons through smuggling," he added. His death is the second significant blow to Belmokhtar's leadership cadre in six months. Hacene Ould Khalil (aka Jouleibib), killed last November by French forces in northern Mali, was the deputy commander of Belmoktar's former "Signed in Blood" battalion. The group was behind last year's deadly siege at the In Amenas gas complex in Algeria and the twin suicide boom-mobileings in Niger. "When gangs lose their leaders, they are on their way to collapse," said Abdul Rahman Mtaly, a professor at the University of Nouakchott. "The young entrants who join the organization do not have the same conviction, because their main motive is money." Other young people see Belmokhtar as bad news for the Sahel. According to Touareg youth activist Ameknas Ag Akal, "Laaouar and his fighters are thwarting efforts of development and stability in the region." "I think that when they are confronted forcefully, things will return to normal," the young Toaureg tells Magharebia. Mohammed Aali, a young Mauritanian student of Islamic Sharia, denounced Belmokhtar on religious grounds. "If Laaouar and his group believe that what they are doing serves Islam, they are wrong," he said. "It is not one of the values of Islam to kill innocents, or kidnap people who disagree with them religiously, or to take drugs and smuggle arms. True Islam intersects with other religions in the care for human life and the search for good," the student added. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Pappy said this yesterday, but it's still funny: #1 "You lost another top deputy, Mokhtar?" Posted by Pappy 2014-05-18 15:25 |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-05-19 21:10 |