In a statement issued to the Internet today, June 15, 2005, al-Qaeda in Iraq through its official spokesman, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, congratulates the mujahideen "who are fighting the converters in Mauritania."
The message seems to be referring to the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), a jihadist organization in Algeria, which claimed responsibility for an attack upon Mauritanian soldiers on June 3 to avenge "brothers who were recently captured by the converted Mauritanian regime, and to stand up for the weakened Muslims there." The claim was posted on the GSPC's official website and translated by the SITE Institute . |