On-going military border operations are destabilising terror networks as supply lines are cut and leaders are eliminated.

By Jemal Oumar and Raby Ould Idoumou for Magharebia in Nouakchott – 05/07/12

 “This was part of the Mauritanian army’s operations along the border to besiege infiltrating jihadists and besiege the convoys that supply AQIM with fuel and weapons, and deal with drugs and smuggling networks,” Rajel Ould Oumar, a correspondent in eastern Mauritania, told Magharebia.Special Mauritanian army units seized 300 kilograms of explosives and advanced detonators smuggled from Libya via Niger and Mali following an armed confrontation with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

“Drying up the group’s sources of supply has become a goal for regional armies,” he said.

At least one Mauritanian soldier was killed and six sustained various wounds in the June 14th confrontation, Algeria’s Echorouk daily reported on June 17th.

The newspaper cited a local Mauritanian confirming that the forces managed to arrest al-Qaeda’s route guide, Malian citizen Boukhan Soulam, 300 kilometres away from the Algerian border in Bir Hasbi. The terrorists, however, managed to elude Mauritanian forces while they combed the town of Arlit. They fled in three 4-wheel drive vehicles containing boxes of explosives, the report said.

The Mauritanian military hasn’t officially commented on the numerous media reports; however, a team of elite Mauritanian officers confirmed that the operation was part of a large-scale combing campaign carried out by Mauritanian forces in the north.

Mauritanian army officer Yahya Ould Nanih told Magharebia that Special Intervention Force 3, stationed near Salah ad-Din base, carried out the operations and has been patrolling the north of Mauritania for some time. Intensive security operations and continuous military readiness along the Malian-Algerian border has been on-going since the Malian crisis broke out.

Analyst Bechir Ould Babana described the recent success in thwarting smuggling and terrorist operations as a result of a “security awakening” that has occurred after chaos and confusion have fallen on terrorist groups around the world following the death of top leaders including Osama Bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Abu Yahya al-Libi. According to Ould Babana, this is clearly reflected in terrorist organisations such as AQIM.

Ould Babana’s theory is supported by AFP reports about the arrest of al-Qaeda’s senior leader Naamen Meziche in Pakistan near the border with Iran and Afghanistan after receiving tips from Younis al-Mauritani who was arrested in the same area in September 2011. Al-Mauritani was working as assistant for Meziche before his arrest.

Al-Mauritani and Meziche shared many tasks assigned to them by Osama bin Laden, said analyst and specialist in salafist ideology Sid Ahmed Ould Tfeil. Both were close to networks suspected of planning operations in Europe, and they were personally tasked with carrying out terrorist operations in Australia, Europe and the US.

Ould Tfeil agreed that the “chaos and confusion” created when a terrorist leader is captured or killed was affecting terror networks’ ability to conduct operations.

“Most of these plans have been delayed, if not stalled altogether, as a result of the arrest of top planners,” he said.

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