Nouakchott, September 28: A Mauritanian army officer on Monday said soldiers had arrested seven armed men suspected of being members of the North African branch of al-Qaeda.
The men were arrested in the remote Limaghiti region, some 1,100 kilometres north-east of the capital, Nouakchott.
They were “active members of al-Qaeda,” a source in the Mauritanian military told the German Press Agency dpa, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
He said a military surveillance aircraft had spotted the men travelling in two sport-utility vehicles in the direction of the capital, after receiving a report from the country’s counter- terrorism police force that there had been “suspicious movements” of armed men in the region.
Mauritanian security forces have recently apprehended a series of men they accused of being scouts sent by the al-Qaeda network to spy on troop movements in the area, which lies near the intersection of the country’s borders with Algeria and Mali.
The area was the site of a June 2005 attack that killed 15 Mauritanian soldiers
—–Agencies