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| Mauritanian soldiers attacked a terror camp inside Mali |
The Mauritanian army said it had destroyed a camp in neighboring Mali Friday night that was sheltering militants linked to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
By Jemal Oumar
Mauritanian military forces killed 15 al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) terrorists inside Mali, the army announced on Sunday (June 26th).
"[The] operation began Friday with the objective to dislodge and destroy a fortified AQIM camp installed in the Wagadou Forest," Colonel Brahim Vall Ould Cheibani said at a press conference in Nouakchott.
The attack, which left two Mauritanian soldiers dead and five wounded, was a joint manoeuvre with Mali aimed at a terrorist base 70km from the Mauritanian border. Nine terrorists were captured, Ould Cheibani said.
"The Wagadou region is completely under control of the Mauritanian army, which continues to search for al-Qaeda," Colonel Tayeb Ould Brahim told reporters.
A high-level Mauritanian military official in the border town of Bassiknou told Magharebia that the army had "killed scores of AQIM fighters, burned tens of their vehicles and completely destroyed a base camp inside the forest".
The official attributed the prolonged battle to "many land mines that AQIM fighters planted at the entrances of the forest... that made the Mauritanian military units wait on storming the forest in full and to take instead an accurate death toll of the terrorists' losses."
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"This military operation has revealed an extremely important issue – al-Qaeda has had access to sophisticated weapons as a result of the Libyan crisis," said Mokhtar Salem, an expert in armed groups. "The proof of that is the organization's use of land mines, Grad rockets and rocket launchers. The Mauritanian forces were able to destroy a location that housed an arms cache, and as a result, there was a strong blast that could be heard 30km away."
Mokhtar Salem noted that the "Wagadou Forest is located just 65km away from Mauritania. It extends for a distance of 120km, and therefore, the Mauritanian army's intervention was necessary to prevent the formation of a mini-state for AQIM along its border.
"The attack indicates Mauritania's determination to confront AQIM," analyst Mustafa Ould Yacoub told Magharebia. "It is one of the biggest military operations ever to be launched by the Mauritanian army on the terrorist organization."
Mauritanian military forces killed 15 al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) terrorists inside Mali, the army announced on Sunday (June 26th).
"[The] operation began Friday with the objective to dislodge and destroy a fortified AQIM camp installed in the Wagadou Forest," Colonel Brahim Vall Ould Cheibani said at a press conference in Nouakchott.
The attack, which left two Mauritanian soldiers dead and five wounded, was a joint manoeuvre with Mali aimed at a terrorist base 70km from the Mauritanian border. Nine terrorists were captured, Ould Cheibani said.
"The Wagadou region is completely under control of the Mauritanian army, which continues to search for al-Qaeda," Colonel Tayeb Ould Brahim told reporters.
A high-level Mauritanian military official in the border town of Bassiknou told Magharebia that the army had "killed scores of AQIM fighters, burned tens of their vehicles and completely destroyed a base camp inside the forest".
The official attributed the prolonged battle to "many land mines that AQIM fighters planted at the entrances of the forest... that made the Mauritanian military units wait on storming the forest in full and to take instead an accurate death toll of the terrorists' losses."
Mokhtar Salem noted that the "Wagadou Forest is located just 65km away from Mauritania. It extends for a distance of 120km, and therefore, the Mauritanian army's intervention was necessary to prevent the formation of a mini-state for AQIM along its border.
"The attack indicates Mauritania's determination to confront AQIM," analyst Mustafa Ould Yacoub told Magharebia. "It is one of the biggest military operations ever to be launched by the Mauritanian army on the terrorist organization."
Ould Yacoub added: "The Mauritanian army is now in a running battle deep inside enemy lines, after AQIM was able to penetrate the Mauritanian border several times and carry out their operations because of a failure to control them."
"This operation is part of the Mauritanian army's commitment to the plan adopted by the chiefs of staff of Sahel countries," said Sid Ahmed Ould Tfeil, a specialist in armed groups. "Such a plan focuses on pre-emptive strikes from time to time with the aim of confusing AQIM and undermining its military power and its co-ordination efforts with other groups, especially the Sunna and Jama, which is known as Boko Haram, in Nigeria."
He added that the terrorists could have acquired weapons from Libya. "Mauritania has certainly succeeded in limiting the recruitment of young people into terrorist groups. However, it is still facing real difficulties in shutting off its vast borders in the face of suicide infiltrators from AQIM," Ould Tfeil said.
"I believe that it is politically justified for any state that has the ability to get rid of a danger threatening it to do so," political science professor Sidi Ould Ibrahim said.
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| A Mauritanian soldier stands guard |
"This operation is part of the Mauritanian army's commitment to the plan adopted by the chiefs of staff of Sahel countries," said Sid Ahmed Ould Tfeil, a specialist in armed groups. "Such a plan focuses on pre-emptive strikes from time to time with the aim of confusing AQIM and undermining its military power and its co-ordination efforts with other groups, especially the Sunna and Jama, which is known as Boko Haram, in Nigeria."
He added that the terrorists could have acquired weapons from Libya. "Mauritania has certainly succeeded in limiting the recruitment of young people into terrorist groups. However, it is still facing real difficulties in shutting off its vast borders in the face of suicide infiltrators from AQIM," Ould Tfeil said.
"I believe that it is politically justified for any state that has the ability to get rid of a danger threatening it to do so," political science professor Sidi Ould Ibrahim said.
---- From Magharebia
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