Attack on Assamaka
 

Has anybody got any more news on this one?

Four security force officers and one civilian were killed on 23 September, in an attack by unidentified gunmen on the Al'gazna border post near Assamaka.

The group of assailants reportedly arrived in four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicle before firing at the border post. They subsequently stole a security force vehicle as they fled; search operations are under way. While the identity of the perpetrators and the exact motive for the attack remain unclear, the incident serves as a reminder that Islamist extremists, drug smugglers and bandits are active in Agadez region, a transit hub for the smuggling of people and goods, including drugs and weapons, across the Sahel.

Lots of bandits around there, although these may have been bearded.
And no tourists, for what - seven years now?

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-algeria-50692
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...h-2010-a-49299

Must say it sounds like business as usual in that area, right on the transit between north Mali and Libya.

http://sahelien.com/en/niger-arlit-t...s-in-assamaka/

I wonder if the recent clamp down on human trafficking out of Agadez (still goes on but clandestine and much reduced) has realigned the pressure points.

Trafficking was big business and the marché de la nuit in Agadez very busy.
Perhaps a little slower now. Then they have stolen cars coming down from Libya.
And four years ago someone found gold between Arlit and Assamaka so there were thousands of diggers going that way, building camps en plein desert.

Interesting choice of phrase .. I'm wondering were the bandits a) confronted and defeated or b) fundamentalists. It could be a very good pun.

:) didn't know of that (a) use of the word so no pun intended.
It is sometimes discussed whether these jihadists, like Mohktar Belmohktar (a.k.a. MBM) are motivated more by religion or more by greed. Is he an emir or a common thug? Both?
https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/...belreuters.jpg
Speaking of whom, we haven't heard from him for a couple years now. Maybe he is finally dead. L'Expression - Le Quotidien - Mokhtar Belmokhtar est-il vraiment mort?
After McGown's release there are six foreigners abducted that I know of still missing
none of them tourists
-French aid worker Sophie Petronin from Gao, Dec -16
-Swiss nun Beatrice Stockly, TB2 Jan -16, second time abducted
-Australian doctor Ken Elliott, a man in his 80s, from Djibo, Burkina Faso
-Romanian mine worker Iulian Ghergut, from NE Burkina April -15
-Colombian nun Gloria Argoti, from Karangossa (north of Sikasso), Mali Feb -17
-American aid worker Jeffrey Woodke from Abalak, Niger October -16
France’s Sophie Petronin shown in video among other hostages in Mali - France 24

Hello Priffe,

the economic rules in this aera, in my opinion, never changed. Since we (the europeans, arabs, whatever) explored and exploited this part of the world, the business with "us" is part of an old the trade system - this does not matter, if the one-eyed is alive or not - sometimes more efficent, sometimes less since 1850 or (very much longer) before.

So what?
Ferdi

The more things change, the more they stay the same. I noted that the recently 're-discovered' footage of Bagnold showed them travelling with bolt action rifles strapped to the sides of their trucks. Not sure these were just for hunting...

Banditry has always been a problem in the Sahara for sure.

Gordon Laing, the Scotsman who was the first European to have reached Timbuktu was brutally assaulted by tuaregs on his trek from Tripoli across the Tanezrouft.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexan...ip_to_Timbuktu
Here he describes his travails. Significant Scots - Alexander Gordon Laing
"When I write from Timbuctoo, I shall detail precisely how I was betrayed, and nearly murdered in my sleep. In the mean time, I shall acquaint you with the number and nature of my wounds, in all amounting to twenty-four; eighteen of which are exceedingly severe. I have five sabre cuts on the crown of the head, and three on the left temple; all fractures, from which much bone has come away. One on my left cheek, which fractured the jawbone, and has divided the ear, forming a very unsightly wound. One over the right temple, and a dreadful gash on the back of the neck, which slightly scratched the spine. I am nevertheless, as already I have said, doing well, and hope yet to return to England with much important geographical information." Wow.

I read in the past that he was murdered after leaving TB2 by his tuareg companion with a sword, shouting "Allahu Akbar!" Which could then have been an early act of jihadism.
But there are other versions of what happened. All his papers were lost and we will never know. One of the stories is, in a way that sounds familiar even today, that the French secret service was behind it, and in on it all the way from when he left Tripoli. :huh:

October 2017: Trouble in Bahariya - formerly tame Western Desert, Egypt.
Suspected Islamist militants kill 50 Egyptian security personnel.

More details here:
Militants kill Egyptian security forces in desert shoot-out - BBC News

A few more details emerging:
https://www.madamasr.com/en/2017/10/...-oasis-attack/

The incident happened at an "area adjacent to kilo 135" of the oasis road, which puts it abeam of Fayum and nowhere near Bahariya (which is another 200 kms from there). While all reports suggest ideologically motivated militants to be involved, I would not discount the possibility that the police have stumbled upon 'peaceful' arms smugglers (the location is very close to the convenient Jaghbub - Siwa - Qattara - Fayum sand free corridor) who were just protecting their business interests.


The reports speak of the militants attacking 'from a high point the police convoy below', which does not fit the flat topography on either side of the oasis road. I suspect the actual attack happened somewhere along the Jebel Qatrani scarp to the SE of the road, on a track that descends from the high desert into the Fayum depression.

Andrasz correctly points to the usual lack of clarity surrounding the key details of the 'Western Desert' incident.

It seems wise to remain open minded about many of the details still.

Note the following from the source that Andrasz has pointed us to (https://www.madamasr.com/en/2017/10/...asis-attack/):

"The facts about the clashes that took place between security forces and armed militants in the Western Desert’s Bahariya Oasis remain unclear due to the scarcity of information, even after the Interior Ministry has issued two statements on the attack 18 hours apart."

and, also from the same source:
"The clashes broke out in a desert area at a point near the Wahat Road, 135 km from Giza, according to the Interior Ministry’s Friday statement."
(my emphasis added).

Tunisia fights Al-Qaeda
 

Tunisia kills senior Al-Qaeda member | Daily Mail Online

Is seems that region of Mount Sammama is not the best place to be in Tunisia.

According to TheDailyStar Lebanon:
"Mount Sammama is in a range of hills that are a favoured hideout of loyalists of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.It is adjacent to Mount Chaambi, considered to be the main rear base of the jihadists near the border with Algeria."


12.03.2017:
Policeman killed in south Tunisia ambush | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

Good graphic of the complex alliances and feuds in the Sahel these days as well as the recent escalation of attacks in that region.

Source and more info: https://www.acleddata.com/2018/03/21...r-sahara-isgs/

Fascinating graphics and an article which succeeds in distracting all attention away from Algeria. Whatever happened to the alphabet spaghetti acronymic equation so beloved of Keenan: CIA=DRS=AQMI ? USA is a huge player in the Sahara & Sahel with a rapidly mushrooming inventory of hardware and human resources in play. Perhaps it is articles like this and all the other focus on local players, or at least AU, EU, & MINUSMA which succeed in deflecting attention from what Uncle Sam is playing at in the region? The Sahara is certainly no more a wild, open, free playground in which to appreciate Nature and culture.....except possibly RIM.