12 Terrorists Killed - Updated

(Nouakchott, Mauritania) Another source confirms that 12 al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) terrorists were killed last weekend in fighting that took place in the Timbuktu region of Mali.



West Saharan Africa
The Mauritanian operations were approved by the government of Mali since AQIM dominates in the northern part of the country.

For the first time in years, the Mauritanian Air Force, consisting of several U.S.-origin Basler BT-67 and Cessna-337 transports, conducted air strikes against armored vehicles, killing 12 terrorists and really pissing AQIM off.

“Our Muslim brothers in the North of Mali were the object of a cowardly aggression, which killed two women, Najiya et Salka, and wounded one man,” the statement said.

"The Mauritanian army, acting in the pay of miscreants who kill innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq, is lying when it says that the woman who was killed was the wife of a mujahidin.”

They called Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz the agent of France and said that the blood of the two women who were killed would not go unavenged.

Meanwhile, AQIM is believed to be responsible for kidnapping seven people in northern Niger, including five French nationals. In response, France has dispatched a company of 80 troops to recover the hostages.

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12 Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb Killed
[Previous 9/20/10 post]
(Mauritania-Mali Border) Here's an intriguing report.

Mauritanian soldiers killed at least 12 al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb terrorists during a 2-day skirmish that ended Saturday (September 18th) in Mali.

As part of the Sahel-Saharan security co-operation initiative, Mali warned Mauritania on Friday that a column of AQIM armoured vehicles was observed heading to the shared border to attack a Mauritanian military post, the Mauritanian Defence Minister said Saturday. [my bold]

Six Mauritanian troops died in the offensive.

Although counterterrorism experts may know otherwise, this is the first occasion I'm aware of where al-Qaeda terrorists are reported to use armored vehicles. Typically, terrorists are not viewed as having their own motor pools of military vehicles.