Islamist activity in the Sahara in relation to travel security

[priffe]

Interesting action in the desert
AFP: Clashes between Mauritanian army and Qaeda militants: source

"The clashes began on the Mauritania-Mali border but then moved on to Malian territory at Hassissidi, about 100 kilometres (about 60 miles) north of Timbuktu," a Malian security source said.
"We are presently in Malian territory and engaged in full combat," added a Mauritanian security source.

[Caminando]

A couple of days ago, France 24 reported 5 French uranium mine engineers taken prisoner in Niger.

[Ulrich]

Fighting between the Mauritanian army and elements of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) continued Friday night "in Malian territory" to a hundred kilometers north of Timbuktu, told AFP security sources Mali and Mauritania.

Tahalil - Combats entre l’armée mauritanienne et Aqmi au Mali

Gogoonisch - E

BAMAKO — Mauritanian troops Saturday staged all-out attacks on Al-Qaeda's north African wing, the key suspect in the kidnapping of five French and two African uranium workers, in Mali, security sources told AFP.

"The clashes began on the Mauritania-Mali border but then moved on to Malian territory at Hassissidi, about 100 kilometres (about 60 miles) north of Timbuktu," a Malian security source said.

AFP - Mauritanian troops clash with Al-Qaeda

Ulrich

[priffe]

Mauritanian troops kill 12 Qaeda members in clash | World | Reuters

Mauritanian forces had encircled around 20 AQIM vehicles in the border area and the fighting continued Saturday, the Mauritanian source told Reuters.

"The operation was launched because the opportunity presented itself. It was not planned long in advance," said a second security source in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott with knowledge of the background to the mission.

Mauritanian military says 12 AQIM fighters killed in combat

The military also admitted that two of its soldiers died in the combat which was launched on Friday night in northern Mali and continued on early Saturday.

In its first statement made since the fighting erupted, the military said the army killed "12 armed terrorists" and wounded a number of others on Friday."Two Mauritanian military personnel were killed and four others wounded," it added.

The Mauritanian army rounded up about 20 vehicles of the Al- Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) nearly the northern border town of Areich Hindi in Mali, the military said.

The Malian military has confirmed the anti-terror combat in its territory, but said the fighting later expanded into the Mauritanian territory.

RE: Mauritanian AQIM Members, General Information � The Moor Next Door

also http://twitter.com/themoornextdoor

[Ulrich]

PARIS - Air and Earth observation satellites, terrestrial listening stations, special forces: France has a range of intelligence resources in the Sahel to try to locate the kidnappers of five French and two Africans kidnapped Thursday in the north Niger.

AFP - Les yeux et les oreilles de la France dans le Sahel

Gogoonisch - E

... French soldiers participate in the operation, which is denied the Quai d'Orsay aside yesterday the presence of French military units on the battlefield. Residents of the Kidal region (1600 km north-east of Bamako) had said Friday it had seen a French reconnaissance plane flying over the area at low altitude. An Algerian sources confirmed the information. ...

Le Temps d'Algérie - Le commencement de la fin d’Aqmi ?

Gogoonisch - E

Ulrich

[priffe]

After suffering some losses, Mauri army resorted to aerial bombing
Conflicting reports - Alg speaks of defeat, Mauri of success and Mali keeps silent.

Accrochages avec AQMI : Les Maliens observent le silence, les Algériens parlent de « défaite » mauritanienne.

Mauritanian army continues fighting with AQIM | NewsyStocks.com

For more info on military involved
French military shares intelligence with Mauretania in battle against AQMI


Also: reports of several carjackings in Kidal region, Toyota 4x4s. East of Kayes on RN1 a number of vehicles including several buses were robbed at gunpoint one night last week. In south Mauretania (Wad Naga) five americans had a car accident and panicked after they were surrounded by curious locals.
Tense situation right now.

[Dave The Hat]

Including a short video:

France24 - French troops land in Niger amid row over Areva security

Details of French now in Nimaey and also the Mauritanian offensive, inc civilian casualties:

Au Niger mobilisation pour retrouver les otages alors que la Mauritanie reprend son offensive contre AQMI - Temoust.org | Le portail du peuple touareg berbère Kel Tamasheq

[Ulrich]

Details are published for the first time the battles of "Hassi, sir," and "Akhuept Racelma"

El Hourriya - Translated

Mauritanian military forces have eliminated « Yahya Abul Hammam », head of El Forkan phalanx, which depends on Katibet Tarek ibn Ziyad of Hamadou Abada, alias Abdelhamid Abou Zeid.

Ennahar Online - Abul Hammam, "head of El Forkan phalanx " eliminated

Ulrich

[Ulrich]

An officer of DST among the hostages

What is behind the "swift and unconditional" of France in the Sahel and the mobilization of hundreds of soldiers?

"The actions that led France to the Sahel are beginning to deliver their secret and the challenge becomes clearer," told us yesterday at the exclusive L'Expression, sources very familiar with the matter and what is coming in region. The puzzle revealed by our sources is "the presence of the seven hostages kidnapped last Thursday in northern Niger, an agent of French intelligence services belonging to the DST.

L'Expression - Un agent de la DST parmi les otages

Gogoonisch - E

Ulrich

[priffe]

Aqim managed well after the fight started with "twenty aqim vehicles rounded up by the Mauritanian army".
Here's part of what Aqim managed to lay their hands on.

Day Picture(s): AQIM show of force � Tower'Sight – vue(s) de la citadelle
Mauritanian army set up its headquarters at the airport in Timbuktu,
maliweb.net :: Affrontements entre l'arm

[Ulrich]

In its edition of September 22, the chained duck, French weekly magazine, reported on an article about the existence of a secret listening center in Tamanrasset. Information has already been disproved in the past, by official sources in Algeria who have expressed their refusal to Americans "of all military on national soil."

El Watan - Les Américains impliqués contre AQMI ?

Gogoonisch - E

Making it suddenly the weight of Algeria in the region, France seems resigned to seek the support of Algeria to settle this case French hostage by the terrorist Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.

Liberte - Paris veut Alger comme allié

Gogoonisch - E

The two are taken hostage in Niger and recent offshore Nigeria raised to eleven the number of French people now in the hands of terrorist or criminal organizations. Journalists Hervé Ghesquière and Stéphane Taponier the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan for almost nine months. An intelligence agent, Denis Allex , for its part held for more than a year in Somalia by Islamist Shabab. Very different in their nature, these attacks put pressure on companies employing French nationals abroad and the authorities, faced with increasingly stringent requirements.

Le Monde - Les otages français, une monnaie d'échange prisée

Gogoonisch - E

The deaths of the Mauritanian AQIM: The road to the cemeteries of the "Desert of Islam"

Their friends AQIM fighters call them "martyrs Berber blessed by God for having sacrificed for him," Governments in the subregion and their enemies call them "terrorists who have got what they deserve after choosing the path of terrorism and banditry. "

Others of their opponents feel that they are young people who believed in their God and were swept by the fire of passion in response to the injustice faced by Muslims worldwide. They then left in good faith to correct the mistake before turning into anonymous debris scattered in the Sahara, the remains of some of them were handed over to their relatives for burial.

These are young Mauritanians who have joined al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and formerly the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), before dying there, away from the wife and children, friends and relatives in the bush between the plains and plateaus of the desert have to go between the unknown and whose fate is like to return again in life.
A death that will be for some of them in a barracks that has not dreamed of and which was not expected and for others, an appointment to which they went arm of explosive belts or car bombs distributing death by suicide or by slashing innocent lives, leaving behind them ringing, in a district of Nouakchott or in an inland town, a telephone to announce the sad news: "Your son sacrificed himself, Allah accept his martyrdom. " Pain invades the home, doubt and distrust sit around the house, mother and wife are grieving, a few people to slip discreetly offer their condolences. The days pass and then another phone is ringing with another family to announce the death of a son like that which preceded it in a scenario that repeats itself and emerged as the start of this youth to the camps of the great desert. They are now number 21 young Mauritanians in the prime of life, killed in the name and on behalf of AQIM, friends pretending to be hedonist "in Paradise where they will have eternal houris (Women's paradise), houris wide-eyed and beautiful. " "They have taken away the lives and plunged into hell" say their enemies.
Anyway, these young Mauritanians have taken the death or went to get killed in Algeria, Mauritania, and Mali, which in Niger and Tunisia. A distribution which is at the top of the charts Algeria (8) tied with Mauritania (8), followed by Mali (2), Niger (2) and Tunisia (1).
Of these 21 are 4 suicide bombers, two of which were detonated in
Mauritania:
- Moussa Ould Zeidane, alias Abu al-Oubeida Bassri,
author of the suicide attack against the Embassy of France in Nouakchott in August 2009 and
- Idriss Mohamed Ould Lemine alias Abu al-Ishagh Chinguitty, suicide bomber foiled the operation against the barracks of Nema in eastern Mauritania, 25 August 2010.
- Ibrahim Al Khalil Ould Haboye alias Nacer, author of the suicide attack against a military barracks in March 2010 and Niger
- Alias Abou Khattary Sidina Ould Al-Zeineb Mouritani, author of a suicide bombing against
a bus transit in the Algerian town of Bouira in 2008.

1 - Ahmed Bamba Ould Baba alias Abu Mohamed Al Jakani: he was the first Mauritanian killed in the ranks of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). It is a national of the moughataa R'Kiz, mechanical engineer outgoing Jordanian universities where he acquired the Salafi jihadist thought, absorbing leaders like Abu El Chami Enass. Returning to Mauritania, he worked as an engineer at SNIM but without delay, he joined the camps of the GSPC. This is one of the five Mauritanians have participated in the first attack of this organization against Mauritania on June 4, 2005 Lemghaïty in the north, under the leadership of the Emir of the Sahara at the time and current leader of the "Battalion turban" (al Katibat moulathamine), Khaled Abul Abbas. The Islamist will be named after this attack, "Badr Chinguitti" (referring to the historic battle of Badr el-Kubra). The chance that will Bamba Ould Baba Ahmed alias Abu Mohamed Al Jakani will be the first Mauritanian to the GSPC who fall in the territory of Mauritania Mauritanian and ammunition. Indeed, it will be one of six men killed GSPC that day by the Mauritanian army in which Lemghaïty September 10 Mauritanian soldiers including an officer with the rank of captain was killed.
2 - Ould Magham alias Abu Khaïthamata: it is a national of a locality situated between Trarza R'Kiz Boutilimit and who pursued his higher education in Morocco when started the second Gulf War with the invasion of Iraq by the United States of America in 2003. He went to fight in Iraq alongside the Emir Al Bilad al Qaeda vi Ravidein (Iraq), Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. Then he returned to Mauritania before returning to Al Qaeda camps in northern Mali and southern Algeria. He was killed during clashes between Tunisian security forces and armed Salafist near the capital Tunis in late 2006. He was a poet and a great orator famous for a poem circulated widely in sound and pictures on the Net in a video titled "Hell apostates."
3 - Limam Ould Ahah Oumeire alias Abu Asmaa: it is a national of Wad Naga (Trarza) to be killed in Algeria in 2007.
4 - Isselmou Ould Abdallahi Ould Oubeid alias Abu Al Batool: it is a national of Wad Naga (Trarza) which will return to the camps of Al Qaeda in 2004. He was killed in the region of Sidi Bou Aqba in Algeria in January 2009 during a confrontation between the Algerian army and elements of Al Qaeda.
5 - Sidna Ould Khattary alias Abu Al Zeinabou Mouritani. is a national Boutilimit (Trarza) who joined the camps of the GSPC in 2005 in the company of Ahmed Ould Ould Mohamed Idriss and Radhy Lemine. Sidna Ould Khattary be author of a suicide bombing in the Algerian town of Bouira in 2008 killing 12 victims.
6 - Moussa Ould Mohamed Nacer NdeI alias Abu Osama: it is a national of Boutilimit (Trarza), a close relative of Sidna Ould Khattary. He participated in the February 2008 attack against the Israeli embassy in Nouakchott, before being killed in the clash that erupted in Tevragh Zeina (Nouakchott) Mauritanian security forces with elements of the group Ansarou Allah Al Bilad Chinguetti Mourabitoun Vi. It's the battle in which the Islamist give the name of "Badr Nouakchott" (an allusion to the historic battle of Badr el Kubra) and in which orders are most leaders and elements in this group.
7 - Ahmed Ould Radhy alias Abu Mouaze: it is a national Tidjikja (Tagant) who studied in vocational school in Nouakchott, before he became an explosives expert who was trained in camps of Al Qaeda. He was killed with his companion Moussa Ould NdeI after being shot in the head by a bullet during clashes Tevragh Zeina (Nouakchott) between the Mauritanian security forces and elements of Al Qaeda in April 2008. After his injury, Ahmed Ould Radhy had been transported to a military hospital in Nouakchott where he passed away.
8 - Yahya Ould Mahfoudh, alias "Abu Ayman Echarghi" is a national Trarza who was a speaker at the loud voice as described by his companions. He was killed in the wilaya of Ouargla in Algeria during a clash with the Algerian army in early 2008 that perish other elements of Al Qaeda including, among others, "Salman the Algerian" and Noumane Essahraoui "and "Dadallah Tounoussi.
9 - Ely Ould Mohamed Cheikh Ould Meine Ould Ahmed, alias "Abdessamad" is a national Inchiri who lived in the district of Nouakchott Carrefour. Born in the 1980s, he was killed by the Algerian army in May 2008.
10 - Ikhalihenna Ould Sheikh, alias "Abu Dhar Al Ghallaoui" He participated in the recruitment of a large number of young Mauritanians who have joined al-Qaeda. He was killed during the attack by Al Qaeda against the Mauritanian army unit in Turin (northern Mauritania) September 14, 2008. He was the only fighter killed in the ranks of AQIM. He left behind a videotape in which he expressed his last wishes.
11 - Mohamed Salem Ould El Kory, aka "Al Noumane" He was a resident of Zaatar neighborhood, not far from Nouakchott Tensoueilem who worked in the building sector before joining the camps of Al Qaeda. He was killed in July 2009 during a clash between the Malian army in a battle in which the Islamist organization had named the "Battle of Al Wisry.
12 - Sidi Ould Yehdhih, alias "Abu Abdel Hakim Al Yawaqit" He is from the moughataa Wad Naghi and was arrested by the Malian army at the end of August 2008 with Tayeb Ould Sidi Ali as well as Other elements of AQIM. After months of detention in the city of "Gao" in northern Mali, the Malian authorities have decided to transfer to a prison in the capital, Bamako. But the vehicle transporting an accident that will cost the lives of four elements of security in Mali. Sidi Ould Yehdhih will seriously wounded in the head before dying four days later after these injuries while his friend Aly Ould Sidi Tayeb will survive.
13 - Moussa Ould Zeidane, aka "Abu Al Basri Oubeida" originating in the wilaya of Brakna, he is the author of the suicide bombing of the Embassy of France in Nouakchott, August 8, 2009. He failed the Baccalaureate and failed his test of passage to enter the national police school. After trying several small businesses with little return, he joined the camps of AQIM in 2007. Back in Nouakchott, he blew himself up in his suicide when he was not yet consummated his twenty-four.
14 - Maata Ould El Hadj, alias "Abu Mohamed Al Mouritani" is a citizen of the town of Atar (Adrar) who was killed by the Nigerian army in 2010 in an operation against the fighters of Al Qaeda near the town of "Telou" and in which will be killed several other elements of the Islamist organization whose "Said Al Sariya Ebi Jezairi" and the Libyans who were with him.
15 - Ibrahim Al Khalil Haby alias "Nasser" is a national Brakna, who conducted a suicide attack against the army of Niger, in March 2010. The operation was dubbed by Al Qaeda's "Battle of the Martyr Saad Ebi Sariya" came in retaliation against the Nigerian army who had killed a number of elements of the Islamist earlier this year, including "Abu Mohamed al Mouritani "which left behind a videotape of his last wishes.
16 - Sid 'Ahmed Ould El Weli, alias "Abu Oubeid PK (alluding to his inseparable PK weapon, according to statements by his companions): He was killed in 2010 in an ambush by members of the organization, an Algerian police patrol near Tenzaouten in southern Algeria. A Tuareg fighters among the elements of AQIM ET11 Algerian gendarmerie, was killed in the clashes.
17 - Sediq Aboubakr Ould Yahya Ould Abdi aka "Abu Al-Khattar": Born in 1976, married, father of a child, this native of Aleg (Brakna), he joined the camps of AQIM in January 2010 before being killed in the raid against a Mauritanian AQIM camp, July 22, 2010 in northern Mali.
18 - Abdelkader Ould Ahmednah, alias "Abu Ibrahim Merdassi" Originally from the town of Atar (Adrar), aged only 24, he joined Al Qaeda in mid-2006, and was killed in the raid-Franco against a Mauritanian AQIM camp, July 22, 2010 in northern Mali. He has a brother currently held at the central prison in Nouakchott, by the name of Ould Taleb Ahmednah who was arrested by the Senegalese authorities and handed over to the Mauritanian authorities in November 2009.
19 - Ahmed Vall (Baba), alias "Abu Abdel Razaghi Damam" is a citizen of the city Tembédra who lived in Nouadhibou before being killed in central Algeria in January 2010, during his participation in the carrying a cargo of weapons from the Great Sahara flights AQIM camps in central Algeria, according to sources from the Algerian army.
20 - Mohamed Ould Lemine Idris, alias "Ishaq al-Afghani": He is from the town of Kiffa and joined AQIM in 2005, before being arrested by the Malian authorities February 30, 2009. He was released a few months later in a swap of prisoners. He is the author of the suicide car bombing against the military garrison of Nema (Mauritania Eastern), at dawn on August 25, 2010.
21 - "Osama" is one of the first young Mauritanians who have joined the Islamist organization, before being wounded in the head in the mountains of southeastern Algerian Tassili. He was killed in a landmine explosion in Algeria in 2009.

Sorry, translation only in this way possible.

Les morts mauritaniens de l’AQMI: La route vers les cimetières du «Désert de l’Islam» - kassataya.com

Ulrich

[priffe]

The many events of late condensed by TMND UPDATE: Another Summary of the Hassi Sidi Events � The Moor Next Door

Mauri site claims MBM "Blaouar" was found dead near Timbuktu the other day, killed by his own. He's been reported dead/surrendered/disappeared before so a pinch of salt.
وكالة نواكشوط للأنباء::ونا::

Security summit Mauri-Alg-Niger-Mali in Tam today to "remove the misunderstandings that persist and identify appropriate solutions, to enhance effective and concerted action" maliweb.net :: Sahel: ouverture en Alg

[Ulrich]

Somalia has become a real threat to the entire African continent.

L'Expression - Aqmi se lie aux Shebab de Somalie

Gogoonisch - E

ALGIERS (Reuters) — Military chiefs from four Saharan countries met Sunday to set out a joint strategy for fighting Al Qaeda’s North African wing, which is holding seven foreigners hostage in the Sahara Desert.

New York Times - 4 African Military Chiefs Discuss Fighting Al Qaeda Jointly

Ulrich

[priffe]

Abu Zeid portrayed in an interview with Pierre Camatte who met him four times
Abou Zeid: le stratège froid d'Al Qaida au Maghreb - De Bagdad �* Jérusalem : L'Orient indiscret
The claim is now that it was the brother-in-law of MBM who was murdered by Abu Zeid the other day. Not MBM himself (but he may be next).
L'Expression Edition OnLine

[Richard Washington]

Interesting report on some of the outcomes of the recent intelligence agency meeting in Algeria -

1) smugglers are to be entrained in the effort to hunt down the locations of AQIM camps (I suppose the assumption is they will work for the highest pay)

2) Initially involving Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, the group will now also include Burkina Faso, Libya and Chad. (still no Moroc)

Smugglers to track al-Qaeda: News24: Africa: News