Osama bin Laden wanted Al-Qaeda in north Africa to keep French hostages alive until after the presidential election currently taking place, a letter released by US secret services shows.
In Nigeria, authorities have detained five men with alleged links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Four of the suspects were arrested in the northern city of Kano.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika inaugurated the first underground rail system in a Maghreb country, when he cut the ribbon at a ceremony in a new metro station in Algiers on Monday.
Mauritanian soldiers patrolled the town of Bassiknou on Wednesday after Al-Qaeda-linked extremists attacked a nearby army base which houses an anti-terrorist unit, a military source said.
The main suspect in last month's bomb attack in Marrakesh had previously been expelled from both Libya and Portugal, the Moroccan interior minister told reporters on Friday.
