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| Africa: North |
| Police say Al-Qaeda recruiting in Mauritania |
| 2005-05-11 |
| Al-Qaeda has been pouring vast sums into mosques and Islamic schools in Mauritania, hoping to recruit insurgents and send them to the front lines of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, police said Tuesday. Police commission spokes-man Yahsdhou Ould Amar said in a statement that by tapping into "powerful networks for external development," the Islamist terror network of Osama bin Laden has financed religious teachers and mosques so as to easily spread its message to young people. Al-Qaeda has also spent an untold sum to "dragoon the women in our country, to pressure them into being veiled at all times in public," Amar said of a practice that was heretofore uncommon in Mauritania despite the widespread observance of Islam among its 2.7 million people. Amar's statement, released over the official news service, also referenced recruitment of young Mauritanians by the "criminal organization which has sacrificed them on the front lines of other wars, notably in Iraq and Afghanistan." Police say that two recent crimes - a raid on a police station in the southeastern town of Aioun that netted five weapons and the theft of a vehicle belonging to the Christian charity WorldVision - were committed by Al-Qaeda and are a taste of future operations planned for Mauritania. The statement refused to elaborate on details of other crimes, or name possible ringleaders of the Mauritania cell of the network. Al-Qaeda is not the first fundamentalist group to come calling in Mauritania: a group of seven hard-line Islamists was indicted Monday for trying to mount a faction of the Algerian insurgent Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). GSPC has claimed ties with Al-Qaeda, according to Mauritanian police. Lawyer Ikrebou Ould Mohammad said the seven were charged with establishing a criminal association, while an international arrest warrant has also been issued for two other people said to be on the run. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 "...financed religious teachers and mosques..." That would be your good friend the Saudi "...has also spent an untold sum to "dragoon the women in our country, to pressure them into being veiled at all times in public,"..." Again that would be you good friends the Whaabi Saudi. "..."criminal organization which has sacrificed them on the front lines of other wars, notably in Iraq and Afghanistan."..." Again that's the Saudi way. So ≒ Saudi Arabia ≥ Al-Qaeda |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-05-11 17:13 |
| #1 They keep getting closer to Timbuktou. You won't even be able to go to Timbuktou anymore. What the hell is the world coming to anyway? |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2005-05-11 16:42 |