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| Africa: North |
| Mauritania Said to Nab 5 Terror Suspects |
| 2004-02-14 |
| NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) - Police in Mauritania have arrested five suspected members of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement, sources close to security forces in this desert West African nation said Friday. "Yew ain’t from ’round here, are yews?" A Tunisian and an Algerian were among those arrested, but the nationalities of the other three have not been determined, the sources told The Associated Press on condition they not be identified further. Top police officials refused to confirm or deny the arrests, which were first reported in Mauritania’s Le Calame weekly. "We can say no more!" The security sources said the five suspects were foreigners who arrived in Mauritania several weeks ago, settling in the capital, Nouakchott. The city draws a number of foreign Islamists, who arrive on the grounds of studying the Quran and Islamic law. Which you just can’t do properly anywhere else but in Mauritania, by Gawd! Mauritania, an Islamic republic straddling black and Arab Africa, has a Western-looking government that has cracked down on alleged Muslim extremists since before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. But international security experts allege al-Qaida cells and other Islamic militants are present in the country. Well sure they are, it’s a Muslim country after all. The United States recently sent a team of security experts to Mauritania to help officials guard their borders against infiltration by alleged terrorists and |
| Posted by:Steve White |