Mauritania: Attacker charged

2009-11-24 08:46

Nouakchott - A suspected member of al-Qaeda's north African branch has been indicted over his alleged role in a bloody 2008 attack which left 11 Mauritanian soldiers dead, a legal source said on Monday.

"The investigating magistrate has heard the defendant and indicted him over the terrorist attack against his country and ordered his detention in Nouakchott's civil prison," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

Twenty-three-year-old Mohamed Ould Ahmed - also known as Khaled or Abou Mouslim - is accused of taking part in the attack on an army patrol in the far north of Mauritania near the town of Tourine in September 2008.

The bodies of 11 soldiers and their guide were found beheaded and booby trapped after the attack.

Two other Mauritanians have been detained for their alleged role in the attack. Mohamedou Ould Abdou known as Selman and Mohamed Abdallahi Ould H'Medanah were both recently extradited to Nouakchott from neighbouring Senegal.

All three men are suspected of being members of the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the network's north African branch. They have been indicted for "membership of an organisation founded for carrying out terrorist activities, training abroad, recruiting mercenaries, attacks on human life, assassinations and armed attacks on Mauritania as part of an armed group."

There are currently some 60 terrorist suspects being held in Mauritania including three men accused of killing four French tourists in the southern town of Aleg in December 2007.

- SAPA