Mauritanian police forces Wednesday opened fire on unknown individuals in a house in Ksar, a Nouakchott commune, leaving two people injured one of them seriously, official sources told panapress on Thursday. “The security services were informed about the presence of some suspects in a house and during a search operation carried out on the people followed by a move to take them to police station, one of the policeman, thinking that one of suspects was trying to escape, shot at him,” police commissioner, chief superintendent Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Adda explained. Describing the incident as regrettable, Adda said that “the authors of the facts reported” had been arrested and would be tried according to the law. The police official reiterated the authorities’ resolve to have peace and security prevail and expressed their willingness to protect the citizens. Following the escape 2 April of Sidi Ould Sidina, an alleged member of the terrorist group that killed four French tourists 24 December 2007 near Aleg (250 kilo m etres south-east of Nouakchott), the Mauritanian security forces had clashed at least three times wi th alleged islamists elements at various places in Nouakchott. The clashes with automatic weapons left three people dead and about 10 others wo unded. The manhunt mainly seeks to find the alleged killers of the tourists.
