An al-Qaeda affiliate group on Tuesday said that it is planning to kidnap more Westerners in North Africa, according to Algerian officials.
The militant group is planning a “wave of abductions” in the near future in the Sahel region, which includes portions of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, the Economic Times reports, citing Algeria’s secret service.
On Tuesday, the secret service arrested two militants suspected of kidnapping three Europeans near the city of Tindouf, located in southern Algeria, reported the Ennahar publication.
The European Union said it is planning to send a team of security experts and police to deal with al-Qaeda affiliates, namely al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), in the Sahel region.
“Operating largely from northern Mali, this organization (AQIM) presents an increased threat to our security,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said, according to Reuters.
Hague added the EU is “stepping up our efforts to counter terrorism in the Sahel region and to support economic and political development.”
If the region experiences lasting instability, it could have a “profoundly destabilizing effect on countries in North Africa and the Gulf,” Hague noted.
