Mali, Algeria Violence Stoke Fear Of New Terrorist Haven
Hours after French troops launched a ground offensive in Mali to quash an Islamist rebellion, militants retaliated by seizing dozens of hostages, reportedly including Americans, in neighboring Algeria — an attack that underscores Western fears of a deteriorating security situation in northwestern Africa.
A group calling itself "the Signatories of Blood" claimed it stormed a remote gas plant in the Sahara and took captives Wednesday because of Algerian support for France's campaign against Malian rebel groups, some with links to al-Qaida.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta described it as a "terrorist attack" and vowed that the U.S. would "take all necessary and proper steps."
The mass kidnapping has raised the stakes in the region and, in particular, in Mali, where radical Islamist groups have consolidated control over the country's vast northern region and fighters were advancing toward the capital city of Bamako.
Militants And Mercenaries
Mali is no stranger to rebellion. Indigenous Tuareg tribesmen in the north have staged a number of uprisings for independence, first in 1916 against colonial ruler France and later against governments of an independent Mali.