France on Sunday hailed Mauritania’s “firm commitment” to fight against terrorism after the discovery of 12 soldiers killed presumably by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), affiliated with Al-Qaeda network in north Africa.
A statement released on Sunday in Nouakchott by the French Embassy in Mauritania, expressed “heartfelt condolences to the nation and Mauritanian army.”
The Embassy has also reiterated its “strongest condemnation of the terrorist attack” committed on September 14 in Turin, 800 km north of Nouakchott.
The Mauritanian government on Saturday decreed a three-day national mourning and permanent reading of the Koran on both the state-owned radio and television.
In June 2005, the GSPC attacked the Lemghaity garrison in the north of the country, killing 15 Mauritanian soldiers and wounding 17 others.
Thirty Salafists, led by El Khadim Ould Semman, are currently languishing in prison in Nouakchott while awaiting trial.
Semman and others allegedly perpetrated several armed operations in Mauritania, among them, the murder of 4 French tourists in December 2007.
They also allegedly killed 3 Mauritanian soldiers a few days later in the north of the country and attacked the Israeli Embassy in February 2008 and were also involved in a bloody clash with police in broad daylight in Nouakchott, in June of the same year.
Source African Press Agency
