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NOUKACHOTT, Mauritania, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida's North African affiliate claims it tried to assassinate the president of Mauritania with a thwarted suicide bombing in the country's capital. Mauritanian Defense Minister Hamadi Ould Hamadi maintains the French Embassy was the intended target of the attempted bombing Feb. 2. It was the target of attacks in 2009 and 2010.
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Three militants were killed when their car blew up during a gun battle with Mauritanian troops on the outskirts of Noukachott, the Defense Ministry reported.
Whichever version of the incident is correct, the operation underlined how the jihadists of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb are becoming increasingly bolder and posing a growing threat in the region.
If AQIM's claim it had targeted President Ould Abdel Aziz is genuine, it would mark the first time that any al-Qaida group has sought to assassinate a head of state in Africa or the Middle East.
The car that was blown up was apparently part of a wider operation involving plans for other attacks in the city. It was one of three vehicles that crossed into Mauritanian from neighboring Mali, where AQIM has hideouts and is reported to have heavily infiltrated the security apparatus.
One of AQIM's top leaders in the region, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, is believed to have close links with senior figures in Mali's government and military. He has married into local Tuareg clans to consolidate alliances with the nomadic tribes who run smuggling operations across the region's porous borders.
Security sources in Noukachott said they received a tip from a source in Mali that the vehicles, at least two carrying explosives, crossed into Mauritania last week, and issued an alert.
One of these, heavily laden with explosives, was found Saturday in the desert town of Lexeiba, 150 miles south of the capital. One of the two occupants killed himself by detonating an explosive belt. The other was captured.
The third vehicle hasn't been located but the scale of the operation indicated considerable planning had gone into the planned attacks in Mauritania, a former French colony.
It has emerged as a key opponent of AQIM as the militants expand operations across the Sahara and the semi-arid Sahel, a region 1,800 miles wide that spans Algeria, Niger, Mali and Mauritania.
This has become a no-go area for Westerners. AQIM has kidnapped around 60 Europeans for ransom in that area since 2003. The assaults have become increasingly brazen.
Mauritania cooperates closely with France, which declared war on AQIM in July 2010 after the group beheaded a 78-year-old French hostage, Michel Germaneau. He was killed in response to a July 22 attempt by French Special Forces and Mauritanian commandos to rescue Germaneau from an AQIM camp in the central Mali desert.
AQIM's overall commander, Abdelmalek Droukdel vowed to hammer the French. So did Osama bin Laden. There have been several terror alerts in Paris but the militants so far have limited their attacks to the Sahel.
Five French citizens were kidnapped from a heavily guarded French-owned uranium mine at Arlit in northern Niger, along with two Africans, Sept. 15. They remain in captivity.
Meantime, French Special Forces have conducted several operations against AQIM in which some militants were killed.
The latest was mounted Jan. 7 after AQIM gunmen kidnapped two Frenchmen in a bar-restaurant called Le Toulousian in Niamey, capital of Niger.
Antoine de Leocour and Vincent Delory, both 25, were childhood friends. De Leocour was to marry a local Muslim woman and Delory was in Niamey to be his best man.
French commandos, part of a surveillance network recently established by French intelligence in the region, set off in pursuit with Nigerien troops seeking to rescue the captives.
The Nigeriens said their men clashed with the gang 60 miles north of Niamey. The French, rappelling from helicopters, jumped the militants later near the Mali border. Four militants were killed.
The two captives were found dead. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon claimed the kidnappers "coldly eliminated the hostages when they saw they were being followed."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy denounced "this barbaric act" and vowed to step up the fight against AQIM. France is expected to intensify its operations as Algeria and other regional states step up their counter-terrorism drive.
