From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Feb 18 2009 - 09:46:29 EST
2009-02-18
*Qaeda claims abduction of diplomats, envoys*
Al-Qaeda's North Africa network claims responsibility for abduction of two
Canadian diplomats.
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DUBAI - Al-Qaeda's North Africa network has claimed responsibility for the
abduction of two Canadian diplomats, one of them a UN envoy, and four
European tourists in Niger, Al-Jazeera television reported.
"We are happy to bring our Islamic nation the good news of the mujahideen's
success in carrying out two quality operations in Niger," the group's
spokesman Salah Abu Mohammed said in an audio tape aired on the Doha-based
pan-Arab channel late Tuesday.
His announcement was also posted on Al-Jazeera's website.
Two Canadians, UN envoy to Niger Robert Fowler and his colleague Louis Guay
went missing outside Niamey in mid-December along with their driver when
returning from a visit to a gold mine operated by Canadian company Semafo.
Earlier this month, Malian sources close to the investigation into the
abduction said they had seen an undated video showing the diplomats were
still alive.
The sources said the video showed the two diplomats speaking with armed men
behind them. The missing driver was not shown.
On January 22, a Swiss couple, an elderly German woman and a British man
were returning from a Tuareg cultural festival in Mali when they were
kidnapped by unidentified gunmen along the border of Mali and Niger.
Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb claimed several suicide bombings in Algeria
last year.
It says it intends to unify armed groups in Algeria and Morocco as well as
emerging groups in countries bordering the Sahara including Senegal,
Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea.
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