NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — The suspected Al-Qaeda-linked killer of four French tourists in Mauritania, who escaped from Nouakchott's main courthouse earlier this month, has been recaptured, police said Wednesday.
Sidi Ould Sidna, 21, who had been on the run since April 2, was arrested Wednesday between 3:00 am and 5:00 am (0500 GMT) with at least four other Islamic combatants in the Arafat district of the capital, police said.
He is believed to belong to a group close to Al-Qaeda's north African branch and is one of several people suspected of killing the tourists on December 24.
He is also the main suspect in an attack on the Israeli embassy on February 1 which was claimed by Al-Qaeda.
Two police officers, a clerk and Ould Sidna's brother have been charged with involvement in his escape.
Since his escape Ould Sidna has evaded recapture on several occasions.
Nouakchott prosecutor Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Teyeb said during a press briefing that two wanted Islamists as well as other people suspected of assisting the pair had been arrested. He would not give the exact number of those suspects.
Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also seized in the early morning raid.
A security official hailed the arrests, which came after three attacks attributed to Al-Qaeda between the end of December and early February, as a "successful operation."
Ould Sidna was first arrested in early January in Guinea-Bissau and fled from the Nouakchott courthouse on April 2. Security officials failed to nab him several times after that, notably when they clashed with Islamist extremists on April 7 north of the capital.
The two other suspected killers of the French tourists are already being detained.
"This successful operation allowed us to seize a group of wanted jihadists," the security official told AFP. "We believe that this is a major coup but it is too early to give details."
He said that Mauritanian elite forces "stormed a house which had been identified a few hours earlier."
"One of the jihadists was on the lookout and was having tea. He jumped on a wall to hide but was arrested. Ould Sidna had just woken up, while another man was sleeping with his wife in another room."
Another arrested suspect was identified as Al-Khadim Ould Essemman who was wanted after fleeing from a Nouakchott prison in April 2006.
An international warrant was issued for his arrest after February's embassy attack in which no Israelis were hurt, but three French nationals were wounded in a nearby restaurant, two of them by stray bullets.
Mauritania is one of the few Arab League countries, along with Egypt and Jordan, which have diplomatic relations with Israel.
The identity of the third arrested suspect was not immediately clear.
A fugitive called Taghi Ould Youssef is wanted for his possible involvement in the April 7 clashes which left three people dead, including two suspected jihadists and a police officer.
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