Mahfudh walad Ammar, spokesman for Mauritania's police, said in a statement on Tuesday that recent confessions had linked the Islamist leaders arrested on Monday to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), based in neighbouring Algeria. "They sent about 20 people to the GSPC for military training and the first contingent of seven has returned to the country," the police said in its statement. "These elements have been arrested, the rest of the group is still in GSPC training camps," it said. "The dismantling of this structure has entered a new phase with the arrest on Monday ... of the main leaders of the organisation".President Muawiya walad Sidi Ahmad Taya angered many Arabs in a nation straddling black and Arab Africa when he shifted support from former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein towards Israel and the United States. Mauritania became only the third Arab League state to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel in 1999. The government has said Israel's foreign minister is due to visit Nouakchott but has given no further details. Opposition members said Islamic spiritual leader Shaikh Muhammad al-Hasan walad Didu and Mukhtar walad Muhammad Musa, a former diplomat to several Arab states, were arrested on Monday with up to 14 members of the moderate Islamist opposition. "The regime has started