Militants linked to Al Qaeda are building fortified bun-kers in the Algeria and Mali areas of the Sahara desert to shelter militants from air attacks, security experts claim.
The members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have hidden themselves in the desert without any notion of national boundaries, according to the experts. “We have different verifiable reports which enable us to state that AQIM is currently in the process of building shelters, or bunkers, in which to hide against attacks in the desert shared by Mali and Algeria,” a Malian source told Middle East Online, reported AKI.
“There is no doubt these people are giving themsel-ves a means to their ends,” the highly-placed official in Mali’s northern operational command, added. An official from one of Mali’s neighbours confirmed the reports, saying, “The terrorists are building fortified bu-nkers in mountain areas bec-ause they fear coming under air attack. Some have alr-eady been constructed in Mali and Algeria, and others have been started along the Niger border.”
Well-organised and highly mobile, the local Al Qaeda group is considered by ma-ny to be unassailable in the Sahara, but the countries where they operate have recently been offered assistance from France and the US. Experts stress that aircraft are vital to track them down. “I think they are worried at the prospect of every country in the region joining in a widespread conflict, hence their decision to take counter measures,” former Malian defence minister and intelligence chief Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga said.