The Emir of Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, Abdel Malik Droukdal, has called for Djihad (holy war) against the government “allied to the sionists and crusaders of Mauritania” in a recorded broadcast by the local press Tuesday.
The declaration came about 10 days after an ambush laid against the Mauritanian army by presumed elements of the regional branch of Islamic Maghreb Al-Qaeda, which killed 12 people. In a call for the Djihad against Nouakchott, the emir declared that “history will remember that Mauritania was the first country, having no border with Israel, to have recognised the country and to have exchanged ambassadors with it”. Mauritania has become “a retreat of Mossad and Western intelligence services”, he said, adding that it was “incumbent upon any moslem to fight against these impious people.” Droukdal, alias Abou Moussab Abdelwedoud, is a young Algerian engineer aged 38, emir of the ex-Salafist group for Call and Combat (GSPC), now refered to as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb country.
