Guinea-Bissau extradited five suspected members of al Qaeda to Mauritania on Saturday, a day after they were arrested in connection with the killing of four French tourists in Mauritania on Christmas Eve. Three attackers, whom Mauritanian officials have said were suspected Islamic militants linked to al Qaeda, shot dead the four French tourists and injured a fifth as they ate a picnic on a road in southern Mauritania almost three weeks ago.Police in Guinea-Bissau arrested the five Mauritanian suspects on Friday and said two of them had admitted belonging to al Qaeda. At least three were wanted in direct connection with the murder of the French tourists, officials said. "Guinea-Bissau will pay for what it has done," one of the five Mauritanians said as he was bundled in handcuffs into a plane in Bissau. "Watch out! If I'd had a gun I would have killed you all," he shouted to members of the security forces around him, speaking in the local Creole language. The five men were taken into police custody on arrival in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott a few hours later.
Bissau police on Friday arrested the first two men, whom they identified as Mohamed Ould Chabarnou and Sidi Ould Sidna, at the request of the French authorities, who helped track them down. The three others were arrested hours later. "The first two suspects have admitted that they are fighters of al Qaeda, that their motivations are political, and that they are hostile to the West," the deputy director of Guinea-Bissau's judicial police, Edmundo Mendes, said.