Terrorism: 10 terrorists and 3 soldiers killed in the Sahara Desert
Font size:
ennahar
- The gunmen, crossing the desert in a caravan of several 4-by-4 vehicles, took refuge in remote terrain near the Great Erg, the world’s largest sand dune, early Friday when they saw they were being trailed by the army and special police forces, the officials said.
- They fought off the security forces, killing three and wounding two others, said an elected official in the town of Bechar, 610 miles southwest of Algiers, the capital.
- A security chief in Bechar said the security forces, supported by army helicopters, killed 10 terrorists, including three who did not appear to be Algerian nationals.
- The officials gave no reports of arrests. The authorities seized several heavy machine guns and large quantities of ammunition and medicine after the clash, they said.
- Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Algerian emergency laws forbid discussing developing security matters.
- Several independent Algerian newspapers also reported the clash on Saturday. There was no comment from the government.
- While terrorists have claimed responsibility for multiple bomb attacks in northern Algeria, the south of the country has largely been spared the violence. But many security experts believe that Algeria’s terrorists use the sprawling southern deserts as rear bases and for trafficking weapons, drugs and illegal migrants over the region’s porous borders with sub-Saharan countries like Mali and Niger.
- The terrorist group known as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb also has been blamed for several kidnappings of Western tourists in the desert over the last few years.
- Its fighters are a leftover from a civil war between radical Islamists and government forces that killed up to 200,000 people in Algeria during the 1990s. The group merged with Al Qaeda in 2006.
- Ennaharonline
Add to:
Print version
Plain textRate this article
Comments (0 posted):
Post your comment