Members of a group of 23 suspected terrorists, 22 Mauritanians and an Arabic foreigner detained as a preventive measure, are set to stand trial over several accusations, according to news reaching here Wednesday.
These people are in particular accused of being members of an international terrorist movement, the Mauritanian Prosecutor General's Office announced in a statement published Tuesday.
"The 23 will stand trial for murder, violating the security of state, illegal possession of weapons, uniforms and military insignia, criminal association, organizations of terrorist gangs," said the statement.
Other charges facing the suspects, according to the statement, include "attack and resistance against the forces of order, massacre, devastation and seeking to attack the interests of a foreign state."
The acts are defined, specified and punished by the provisions of the Mauritanian Penal Code (PC) as well as by the law punishing terrorist acts adopted in July 2005, said a security officer, adding that "five other people had been placed under judicial control."
After hearing of suspected terrorists at the prosecution level and by the magistrate, Mauritanian judicial authorities have issued three international arrest warrants against suspected terrorists who are on the run, according to security sources.
Among those accused of committing the above offenses include Sidna Ould Sidi Ould Haiba and Maarouf, who are respectively suspected to be the masterminds of an armed gang that shot and killed four French tourists near the town of Aleg, 250 kilometers south-east of Nouakchott, on Dec. 24.
Khadim Ould Seman, who is believed to be the sponsor of a February 2008 attack on the Israeli embassy in Nouakchott, is also expected to face some of the mentioned charges, according to judicial sources.
In recent months, Mauritania, which was once reputed as a moderate and tolerant Islamic state, has become the theatre of several attacks attributed to Islamic terrorists, especially the Algerian-based Al-Qaeda Branch in North Africa.
Formerly known as the Salafist Group for Combat and Preaching, the outfit, which had entirely limited its operations to Algeria, changed its name in late 2006 pledging allegiance to Osama bin Laden and vowing to widen the scope of its activities across the entire Sahel-Sahara region.
Source:Xinhua
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