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| Africa North |
| North African branch of al-Qaida increasingly present in the Sahara |
| 2011-05-21 |
| [Ennahar] Recently reported by witnesses in the north-western Mali and in an area near the country of Mauritania, Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) seems rooted in the Sahara, even though some predict its weakening after the death of the late Osama bin Laden ... who was potted in Pakistain... These days, men posing as members of AQIM have landed on a market day at Tichist, which is located 100 km north of Timbuktu (northern Mali), witnesses said to an AFP journalist. Arrived in a dozen vehicles, they made purchases, distributed veils, clothes and food, asking people to pray for bin Laden, leader of Al Qaeda killed in early May by the U.S. elite soldiers in Pakistain. "They told us that Bin Laden is now in paradise," they would avenge his death," said one such witness, a shopkeeper. They then left as they came. Same scene on May 17 in the market of Zouera, another desert town of Timbuktu region, where they came in some twenty vehicles containing heavy weapons. "It's the return of the Islamists in the Sahara," while they had shown low profile since a few months following the intervention in July 2010, of the Mauritanian army in the area, says a regional elected on condition of anonymity. "Since the end of Mauritanian patrols, they come back, probably with ulterior motives," he added. AQIM, which has its roots in Algeria, has several bases in Mali where it operates in several Sahelian countries (Mauritania and Niger in particular), committing bombings, kidnappings and various illegal trades. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Nice link, Bankok Billy. Thank you! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-05-21 20:37 |
| #2 A drug pipeline like this? http://www.investigativeproject.org/2593/seven-charged-in-taliban-heroin-conspiracy There a more recent case in this AO involving a large seizure of heroin but I can't find the press release so I'd rather not go into detail. |
| Posted by: Bangkok Billy 2011-05-21 18:33 |
| #1 No surprise but possibly overlooked in the WoT--AQ Khan and ISI emissaries traveled to Timbuktu and Niger in the quest for uranium. African links to Pakistan and AQ as well as the drug pipeline should be looked at a little more closely, IMO. |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2011-05-21 13:33 |