NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — Members of Al-Qaeda's north African branch killed or kidnapped a dozen Mauritanian soldiers as they patrolled in the northern part of the country, security officials told AFP.
Members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), ambushed the unit Monday when they were 70 kilometres (45 miles) east of the mining town of Zouerat, one source said.
The official initially said 12 soldiers had been killed, but late Monday several security sources told AFP that reinforcements sent to the scene "found that the assailants had taken everything away with them, including vehicles and men, dead or alive."
Thus it was difficult to establish a toll. Twelve men were missing including a captain, a corporal, nine privates and a civilian desert guide.
The official Mauritanian News Agency (AMI) late Monday confirmed the attack on the patrol by elements linked with Al-Qaeda but gave no toll.
Opposition politicians blamed the ruling military junta for the attack, suggesting they were more interested in retaining the control they acquired during an August coup than defending their country.
"The army leaders left the borders defenceless against armed groups and brought the military to Nouakchott to defend their powers," opposition lawmaker Khalil Ould Teyeb said at a press conference.
His criticism drew a quick retort from pro-coup deputy Moustapha Ould Abeiderrahmane.
"Our country is victim of an ignoble attack and regardless of our political positions, there are some red lines we cannot cross," he said.
Last month a statement by AQIM appeared on the Internet condemning the August 6 military coup in Mauritania and urging the Mauritanian people "to prepare for war."
The suspected head of Al-Qaeda in Mauritania, El Khadim Ould Esseman, also urged the country's Muslims not to recognise the ruling military junta, calling it an "infidel regime."
Faced with a mounting threat from Islamic militants, security in Nouakchott was beefed up in the last three days, with checkpoints set up along the capital city's main crossroads.
Monday's ambush took place near Zouerat, "the iron capital," where the national industry and mining company, SNIM, employs a large number of foreign workers.
It also came as the African Union's security and peace commissioner, Ramdane Lamamra, was to meet coup leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to try to broker an end to the country's constitutional crisis.
Mauritania, a vast desert country in northwest Africa, was shaken between December 2007 and February 2008 by three deadly attacks from extremists linked to Al-Qaeda which left seven people dead, including four French tourists.
At the beginning of April, a policeman and two extremists were also killed in a gun battle near Nouakchott.
More than 30 suspected Islamic militants are being held in Mauritania in connection with the attacks.
In 2005, an attack claimed by AQIM, formerly known as the Algerian-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, on a military base in north-east Mauritania left 15 soldiers dead, two missing and 17 wounded.
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