Tuesday, March 24, 2015

ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Boko Haram Join Forces in Mauritania


From Fox:
The world’s three most infamous terrorist organizations are working together at Al-Qaeda-run training camps in the Sahara Desert in Mauritania, where dozens of recruits from the U.S., Canada and Europe are being indoctrinated into violent jihad and training for attacks that could expand the so-called caliphate across North and West Africa, according to analysts. 
ISIS, Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda all have links to two camps in the remote sands of the expansive North African country, according to Veryan Khan, editorial director for the Florida-based Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium, which tracks international terrorism and had a source on the ground in Mauritania. 
The sparsely populated Islamic Republic weathered Arab Spring demonstrations to remain stable, but shares a border with troubled Mali and is not far from Nigeria, where Boko Haram is based. 
“The situation in Mauritania is a powder keg very few people are talking about,” Khan said. At least 80 trainees, recruits from the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe, including France, are known to be training at the camps, according to a TRAC source who visited the camp and obtained documentation. 
Most of Mauritania's population of roughly 3 million is concentrated on the coast, around the capital of Nouakchott, while the rest of the country, which is the size of Texas and New Mexico, is arid desert and sparsely inhabited. 
The camps are far from the population centers. “This is not a travel destination,” Khan said. “The only reason to be there from a Western country is to train for terrorism.” 
Signs in English can be seen in videos and photos obtained by TRAC inside one of the main camps at the Maatamoulana Mosque, providing unmistakable evidence of westerners' presence. “The fear of returning foreign fighters from Syria and Iraq is high, but Mauritania-trained fighters are not even on anyone's radar,” said Khan.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

GatesofVienna: Terror in the Alps
Given the multiple terror threats issued recently by Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, whenever a major jetliner crashes one immediately suspects that jihad may be involved. And, given the Western political propensity to deny and cover up any planned Islamic terror attack, one suspects that the evidence of jihad will emerge slowly, if ever.

The A320 is designed to cruise at 37,000 feet for optimum fuel usage. The fact that it began a controlled descent at full speed without making radio contact with air traffic controllers is peculiar, to say the least.
A320 pilots association is saying crash was most likely caused by, quote, ‘pilot incapacitation’!

There were at least two Turks on the passenger list.

French air traffic controllers have reported that the aircraft did not initiate the Mayday call; they (ATC) did because they had lost touch with it (quote). No doubt they were watching its speed/altitude graph, calculating its “steep, controlled” rate of descent and failure to turn away towards the nearest airfield...