'Sleeper cell killed tourists'

2007-12-27 09:03

Nouakchott - Mauritania's interior minister on Wednesday blamed a terrorist "sleeper cell" for the Christmas Eve's killing of four French tourists.

Mauritanian, on the edges of the Sahara desert, had been relatively free of terrorism by comparison with neighbours such as Algeria, where earlier this month a suicide bomber killed 37 people.

Mauritania's Minister of the Interior Yall Zakaria Alassane said: "The cowardly act of violence toward the French tourists was an act of terrorism. There are sleeper cells in Mauritania and one of them committed this act."

The manhunt for the three suspects that gunned down the four French tourists on Monday had been expanded to neighbouring Senegal. Helicopters patrolled the border.

Gunmen attempt to rob French family

Sidi Mouloud Ould Brahim, governor of the region where the attack took place, said the three suspects crossed the border into Senegal late on Tuesday. Senegalese officials could not confirm whether the suspects were in their territory.

Initially, police had said the gunmen were attempting to rob the French family as they picnicked on the side of a road near Aleg, a small town 245km east of Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott.

But a day later, Mauritanian prosecutors called the slaying an act of terror and said the suspects were believed to be members of a regional al-Qaeda-linked network.

A statement issued by the public prosecutor's office in Mauritania's capital on Tuesday said the attack was carried out by three men who it said were known members of the Algeria-based terror network al-Qaeda in Islamic North Africa.

At least two of the suspects had been accused by prosecutors this year of being members of the al-Qaeda-linked terror group and of having undergone military training with it in Algeria.

Man trains with al-Qaeda

The prosecutor's statement said the trial of one of the men this year was postponed. The second man was acquitted, but prosecutors appealed. There were no details on the third suspect.

Also on Tuesday, police said they detained one man who allegedly arranged a taxi for the three men suspected in the attack. The taxi carried the men from Aleg to Boghe, a town on the Senegalese border, about 65km to the south.

The man who allegedly arranged the taxi was convicted this year of having trained with the al-Qaeda group in Algeria and was given a two-year suspended sentence.

The sole survivor of the attack, the family's father, was seriously injured and flown overnight on Monday to the main hospital in Senegal's capital, Dakar, said the hospital.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Wednesday identified him as Francois Tollet and said he had been sent back to France. Fillon said: "I assure you that French authorities are determined to shed light on this tragedy."

- AP