12 soldiers killed in ambush

Sources reported on 16 September 2008 that 12 soldiers believed to have been killed during an ambush by al-Qaeda linked terrorists on a military convoy on 15 September, may have been taken prisoner. Initial reports indicated that 12 soldiers had been killed after terrorists from the al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) opened fire on a convoy of military trucks on a road near Tourine, located approximately 450 mi/700 km northeast of Nouakchott, the capital. Military officials stated that when security forces returned to the scene of the attack, the soldiers and their vehicles had disappeared and are now believed to have been taken captive. Officials suspect the AQIM will use the soldiers to attempt a prisoner transfer with the government, which holds numerous AQIM fighters. The government has since sent a sizable military force to secure the region. The attack on 15 September was the most serious on the military by terrorists since a 2005 incident killed 15 soldiers at a desert outpost near Mauritania's border with Mali and Algeria. The recent attack comes approximately one month after AQIM called for a jihad against the ruling military junta that ousted Mauritania's first democratically elected government on 6 August. Mauritania is a terrorist target because it has conducted significant anti-terror operations and has long been seen as a U.S. ally in the war against terror.