Algiers (Algeria): The Al Qaeda is planning a "wave of abductions" of Westerners in North Africa, Algeria's secret service agency has said.
The Department of Investigation and Security has informed Algeria's neighbours that the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has a plan to kidnap Westerners in Sahel region, according Algerian daily el-Khabar.
The Sahel region comprises parts of many countries including Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The next kidnappings were slated to be carried out by Mauritanian terrorists.
The secret service believes recent abductions were carried out by a group headed by Algerian national Wahi Abdel Baqi.
European humanitarian aid workers -- Italian woman Rossella Urru, Spanish woman Ainhoa Fernandez Rincon and Spanish man Enrico Gonyans -- were abducted Oct 23 from western Algeria's Rabuni camp, inhabited by refugees from Western Sahara.
IANS
First Published: Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 22:27