Mauritania killings may be new Qaeda chapter

By Daniel Flynn

ALEG, Mauritania (Reuters) - By a sand-swept road in southern Mauritania a monument to four French tourists shot dead by suspected Islamic militants lies smashed into concrete shards.

Like many details surrounding the Christmas Eve shootings, who destroyed the plinth remains a mystery. But its symbolism seems clear: the moderate Muslim culture of this Saharan state has been penetrated by violence.

The broad-daylight attack at Aleg was followed days later by the killing of three Mauritanian soldiers and an assault on the Israeli embassy in the capital Nouakchott in early February, both claimed by al Qaeda's North African branch.

The attacks, which prompted the cancellation of the Dakar rally, have sown fears of an organized militant cell within pro-Western Mauritania and raised concerns al Qaeda is expanding southward, as U.S. intelligence has long predicted.

While neighboring states like Morocco and Algeria have suffered major bombings, Mauritania has largely escaped attack. The exception, an ambush on a desert outpost three years ago which left 15 soldiers dead, was rare enough to leave doubts.

"Al Qaeda does not exist in Mauritania. We are a peaceful people," said Oumar Thiecoura N'Diaye, deputy mayor of Aleg, shrouded from the wind by a blue turban as he stood next to the plinth's remains. "They must have been bandits who did this."

Western governments are taking the threat seriously. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, on a visit to Nouakchott last week, vowed greater security cooperation. Washington, which includes Mauritania in its $500 million Trans-Sahara Counter Terrorism Initiative, has stepped up military aid.

A vast, sparsely populated nation of just 1.5 million people on the edge of the Sahara, Mauritania holds significance for Islamists, experts say.

It is the only Maghreb country to have relations with Israel, despite vocal domestic opposition, and has undergone a democratic transition since the toppling of dictator Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in 2005, which has been held up as an example to the Muslim world.

"We're the last country in Arab North Africa where there's no declared arm of al Qaeda. Some people want to end that," said Moussa Ould Hamed, a local newspaper editor.

"You would have to be stupid to say there is no terrorism in Mauritania. Call it what you will -- al Qaeda, fundamentalism, extremism -- it's claiming lives."

WEAKEST LINK IN MAGHREB

The attacks have already affected life in Mauritania. Charter flights have been cancelled, while many restaurants now refuse to serve alcohol. Western diplomats say they no longer venture into the eastern desert, popular for camel treks.

Evidence of Islamic militancy in Mauritania, linked to Saharan drug trafficking, has mounted in recent years. At least three suspects held incommunicado for the tourists' killing have been detained before for al Qaeda-related activities.

The alleged ringleader, Sidi Ould Sidna, was one of 24 suspects acquitted last year of receiving training from Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), renamed al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) a year ago.