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| Africa North |
| Terrorists Kill Village Imam in Mali after Refusing Recruitment |
| 2015-08-16 |
| [ALMANAR.LB] A krazed killer group killed a village imam in central Mali who had refused their repeated attempts to recruit him, a local official told AFP Friday. Gunmen with suspected links to holy warrior preacher Amadou Koufa killed the imam of Barkerou village, Aladji Sekou, on Thursday night, the official said on condition of anonymity. The two men arrived by cycle of violence, leaving it on the edge of the village before approaching the imam's home on foot where they shot him, he said, adding that the assailants appeared to be familiar with the area. Security sources say that Koufa has linked with the Macina Liberation Front (FLM), a new group that emerged earlier this year and has grabbed credit for a number of attacks, some targeting security forces in central Mali. The FLM draws its support from the Fulani people of central Mali, where Koufa is also from, and is also linked to Ansar Dine -- Arabic for "defenders of the faith" -- one of the groups that took control of Mali's vast arid north in April 2012. Washington added Ansar Dine to its terror blacklist in 2013, accusing it of close ties to Al-Qaeda and of torturing and killing opponents in the north. Investigators have found evidence linking the FLM to a deadly raid on a hotel in Sevare on August 7 that killed four foreign UN employees. Three suspects nabbed Book 'im, Mahmoud! so far were supporters of Koufa, a security source said. |
| Posted by:Fred |