AQIM Condemns Mauritania Coup, Claims Suicide Bombings

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Last Updated (Monday, 29 November 1999 19:00) Written by Evan Kohlmann Friday, 19 September 2008 19:00

The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated two new statements from Al-Qaida’s Committee in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) condemning the recent military coup in Mauritania and claiming responsibility for a series of suicide bombings and other attacks targeting the Algerian army, police, and foreign workers. In a statement dated August 11, the AQIM criticized the Mauritanian government, among others, for “oppressing their own people” and scoffed, “it is likely that those behind the recent military coup in Mauritania would not have dared to do what they did, had they not already received the approval of the infidel nations of America, France, and Israel.” In a second communique dated August 21, the AQIM announced its role in leading a "Revenge Battle for the Group of Martyrs in Tizi Ouzou." According to the statement, a group of AQIM suicide bombers of Algerian and Mauritanian nationality were responsible for recent attacks targeting Algerian police academies, a coast guard barracks, and a civilian bus believed to be carrying Canadian contract workers. The group strongly denied charges from Algeria’s Interior Ministry that it had targeting innocent civilians, insisting, “we will never grow complacent or tired of repeating our assurance to you that we pick our targets with precision and are so careful [of spilling] your blood. We do not target innocents… It is the mujahideen who are the ones who really care for the blood of Muslims—so does it make any sense that a martyrdom seeker would go and kill his own brothers and family?"