[Al Arabiya] Mauritanian troops early Wednesday killed a boomer trying to ram a truck bomb into a military barrack at Nema in the country's east, a senior military official said.The bomber refused to heed warnings and tried to drive his 4X4 vehicle into the main military barracks in Nema, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) east of Nouakchott, shortly after midnight, the official said.
Nema is near the frontier with Mali.
Soldiers fired on the vehicle, sparking a "big kaboom", he said, attributing the foiled attack to an al-Qaeda offshoot in North Africa, the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
The kaboom caused heavy damage but no other deaths, he added.
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witnesses said three people suffered light injuries.
The failed attack comes a month after the Mauritanian army launched an offensive on AQIM bases in Mali to pre-empt a strike on military bases at home.
One of them was staged with French military backing on July 22 in a bid to free 78-year-old French hostage Michel Germaneau, who was later ceremoniously murdered by AQIM.
The latest AQIM strike comes barely two days after the group released two Spanish hostages held captive in the Sahara for nine months after securing the release of the kidnap criminal mastermind and a reported ransom.
AQIM gave no details, but Malian mediators told AFP that a ransom of around eight million euros ($10 million) was paid for the release of Albert Vilalta, 35, and Roque Pascual, 50, both aid workers.
In a statement AQIM said the release of the Spaniards should serve as "a lesson" for the French secret service, referring to the failed raid to rescue the French hostage.
"They could have dealt with reason and responsibility... they could have avoided indiscretion, foolishness and deceit, which caused the death of their citizen," it said in a statement.
A French foreign ministry front man Tuesday said in reaction to the statement that Paris does "not comment on declarations made by terrorists."
A French presidential front man also insisted that France "never got the chance to make contact" with AQIM to negotiate Germaneau's release.