New worrying signs of activity in the Maghreb

By Olivier Guitta

After the recent multiple Al Zawahiri's videos specifically on the Maghreb, law-enforcement authorities in North Africa and very much so in Europe as well are on alert.
For proof of this, here are two excerpts (full stories available to subscribers) of two recent stories from the Counterterrorism newsletter The Croissant:

1- About 150 terrorists ready to strike in the Maghreb:
According to August Hanning, Germany’s Home Secretary, training terrorist camps are in operation in Northern Mali, similar to the ones in Pakistan.
Hanning said:” In Pakistan and Mali alike, terrorist techniques are taught. (…) Teaching is done in an ideological fashion. These camps are cause for concern, even for us, Germans”
Hanning estimates that there are between 100 and 150 terrorists in these camps [in Mali].

2- Pakistani suicide bombers in Algeria?

After having imported mercenaries from Morocco, Mauritania, Libya, Mali and Tunisia, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is allegedly recruiting Pakistani nationals.
According to security services information confirmed by testimonies of ex-terrorists, Pakistani suicide bombers are on the brink of entering Algeria.

For more specifically on the threats to Libya, please read my two posts here and here.

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