Madrid , October 26, 2011 – The kidnappers of the three Western aid workers, abducted Sunday in the Tindouf camps on Algerian territory, have benefited from the support of the polisario security apparatus, said Wednesday "El Pais", the widely-read Spanish daily newspaper.
“To cross the checkpoints of the Algerian army and the polisario, the kidnappers benefited from the support of polisario’s military,” said “El Pais”, citing well-informed sources in the area.
The kidnappers and the three hostages arrived, in the night from Monday to Tuesday in Timbuktu in northern Mali, said the Spanish newspaper, stating that this area is controlled by one of the leaders of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, responsible for the abduction in 2009 of three Spanish aid workers in Mauritania.
In the same context, El Pais believes that the kidnapping operation of the European nationals in Tindouf “was executed by order of the head of a terrorist cells operating in Mali, probably Belmokhtar, and not directly by AQIM.”
Spanish news website "enPrimicia" had said Monday that the unknown kidnappers of the three Western aid workers were supported by the polisario.
“The progress of the kidnapping operation and its implementation could not succeed without support from within” the polisario-run camps, added the source.
The fact that the kidnappers, dressed in military uniforms, were able to penetrate easily into plants tightly controlled by the polisario militia, aboard all-terrain vehicles and no one pays attention. The fact that they were able to abduct the three aid workers without encountering resistance. All this suggests that the perpetrators of the kidnapping, not yet claimed, could benefit from help of the elements of the polisario,” stressed enPrimicia, citing Algerian military sources.
