War and Conflict Journal

 Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the North African branch of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two Italians on December 18 in Mauritania, according to the Al-Arabiya TV channel, which is based in Dubai.

The abductions of the Italians are similar to the way three Spaniards were seized  in late November, 2009   by al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.

 Over the past two year,  al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb claimed a series of attacks in Mauritania, including the assassination in late 2007 of four French citizens in Aleg (about 150 miles east of the capital of Nouakchott) and an American in June in Nouakchott.

al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

Mauritania’s military suffered three dead in a clash with Islamic rebels in the north, near the Algerian border. This clash comes soon after the murders of French tourists in Mauritania. The killers of the tourists are known to be connected to the rebel group formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). The GSPC recently changed its name to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and has declared its allegiance to the main branch of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda.

Most mass media news outlets refer to the al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb as al Qaeda in North Africa.

See: Three Mauritanian soldiers killed in desert clash–Reuters UK, Dec. 27, 2007