Mauritanian Muslim Leaders Ban Female Circumcision

A group of 30 Mauritanian Muslim leaders have issued a religious edict banning female genital mutilation in the West African country.

Cheikh Ould Zein, head of the Forum of Islamic Thought, says the scholars believe the Koran does not endorse cutting young girls' genitals to limit their sexual activity as women.

He said Monday that the leaders also agreed to preach against the practice at their mosques.

The process, also called female circumcision, is common in parts of Africa and involves the surgical removal of the clitoris or other genital parts.

The procedure is often performed by women with little or no medical training. It can eliminate pleasure for women during sex and cause lasting pain and complications in childbirth.

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Al-Qaeda group claims kidnappings

A spokesman claiming to represent al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings last month of four Europeans in Mali and Mauritania.

The claim was made in an audiotape obtained by Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

"Two units of the valiant mujahedeen managed to kidnap four Europeans in two distinct operations:

the first in Mali where Frenchman Pierre Camatte was seized on November 25, and the second in Mauritania where three Spaniards were held on November 29," the spokesman, who identified himself as Saleh Abu Mohammad, said on the tape.

He added that "France and Spain will be informed later of the legitimate demands of the mujahedeen", but did not go into detail about the demands.

Camatte, the kidnapped Frenchman, was snatched from a hotel in the Sahel region of northern Mali on the night of November 25.

The three kidnapped Spaniards were working as volunteers in Mauritania delivering humanitarian aid when they were kidnapped on November 29.

They have been named as Albert Vilalta, 35, Alicia Gamez, 35, and Roque Pascual, 50.

Earlier this year a US-based monitoring group reported that AQIM had claimed responsibility for killing Briton Edwin Dyer, one of a group of six Westerners kidnapped in Niger in January.

The group had said threatened to kill Dyer unless the British government released Abu Qatada, a Muslim cleric, from a UK prison.

Al Jazeera

Mauritania says 12 held by al Qaeda were decapitated

NOUAKCHOTT, Sept 20

Twelve Mauritanian soldiers who were abducted in an attack on their patrol claimed by al Qaeda have been found killed with their heads cut off, a senior official of the ruling military junta said on Saturday.

The soldiers had been missing since Monday, when gunmen ambushed their patrol in the northern Zouerate iron ore mining region of the West Saharan Islamic state.

Al Qaeda's North Africa wing had claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had captured the soldiers.

Mauritanian officials said their bodies were found on Saturday in the Tourine area, 70 km (45 miles) from Zouerate.

"Their bodies were found this morning after a search ... they were mutilated and had their heads cut off," Ahmed Bemba Ould Baya, secretary general of Mauritania's ruling High Council of State, told Reuters.

A Mauritanian army officer had earlier said the soldiers had been found with their throats cut.

Mauritania's military rulers, who took power in a coup last month that overthrew the elected civilian president, Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, have called for international support to fight what they say is a serious terrorist threat in West Africa. (Reporting by Manon Riviere and Hachem Sidi Salem; Writing by Pascal Fletcher)

Source: Reuters