June 11, 2005

2,000 US Troops Dispatched to Mauritania

So far, I've only seen this AKI report which claims the US has dispatched 2,000 troops to the small Western Sahara nation of Mauritania. Last week, members of the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), an al Qaeda linked group which has been fighting secularists in Algeria for some time, killed 17 Mauratian troops.

I know I've said it a dozen times, but if you want to find the hot bed of Islamic radicalism look to Africa. Also, the 2,000 US troops might also want to keep an eye out for Osama bin Laden while they are there. If I had to make a bet on where he is, I'd place it on Africa.

Via Open Source Intelligence this AKI story:

Following the recent slaying of 17 government soldiers in a terrorist attack on a military base in northern Mauritania, the United States has sent a contingent of 2,000 soldiers, as well as helicopters, to the area, the United Arab Emirates daily 'Al-Kalheej' reported on Friday. The US troops will use military bases set up in the desert in Mauritania and Mali three years ago as part of the war on terror.

The US battalion's mission is to help Mauritanian troops patrol the country's northern border with Algeria, where militants from the Algerian extremist formation, the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), have been entering the country. The GSPC claimed responsibility for last Saturday's deadly attack on the remote military base, although the Mauritanian authorities maintain the attack, in which 17 soldiers were killed, was the work of Mauritanian and Mali extremists, linked to a few GSPC and smugglers operating along the borders between Algeria, Mali and Mauritania.