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Mauritanian and Malian forces Attack al-Qaeda camp
Mauritanian special forces joined troops from Mali in launching an offensive targeting what they called an al Qaeda base camp, Mauritanian army officials said Sunday.
Col. Brahim Vall Ould Cheibani said the operation aimed against al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the North African arm of the terrorist network, had been “well planned.” He said the forces from the two African nations, which were divided into two wings, “destroyed” the terror organization’s “base camp.”
“We were not lured into this fight, we acted knowingly,” Cheibani told reporters. “We went searching for the enemy to destroy it.”
According to Mauritanian army officials, 15 al Qaeda militants were killed in the offensive. Two Mauritanian soldiers were killed and another five were injured.
The fighting occurred about 70 km across the Mauritanian border in Mali’s Wagadou Forest, Mauritanian army spokesman Col. Teyib Ould Brahim said. It was launched after Mauritanian military leaders decided “to sweep the area, where a well-protected armed camp threatened the security of our country,” according to the spokesman.
Mauritanian soldiers, at times with assistance from France’s government and others, have gone after alleged terrorists numerous times in recent years.
AQIM has voiced its intention to attack Western targets and taken responsibility for several terrorist attacks in recent years. This terrorist organization, born and once focused in Algeria, has broadened its scope to become “more global, sophisticated and better-financed.