The Mauritania Public Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday charged 23 alleged terrorists made up of 22 Mauritanians and an Arab-type foreigner who are in custody. A communiqué of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Mauritania said the charges include affiliation to an international terrorist movement, assassination, breach of state security, illegal carrying of arms, uniforms and military insignia and criminal conspiracy. The rest are organisation of terrorist gangs, attack and resistance against security forces, massacre, devastation and violation of the interest of a foreign state. After listening to the alleged terrorists at the Public Prosecutor’s Office the judge issued three international arrest warrants against the presumed terrorists on the run. Among the persons accused of having committed the offences are Sidi Ould Sidna, presumed member of a commando unit, and Maarouf Ould Haiba, the man behind the assassination of four French tourists on 24 December 2007 near the City of Aleg, 250 kilometres southeast of Nouakchott. Another alleged terrorist is Khadim Ould Seman, the emir of the gang and the man presumed to be behind an attack against the Embassy of Israel in February 2008. The territory of Mauritania has been the theatre of several attacks attributed to Islamist terrorists.
