Al-Qaeda has seized a key arms depot in Mali, security
sources said Sunday, deepening the crisis facing the country after
rebels declared an independent Islamic state in the north.
The underground weapons and ammunition depot in the strategic northeastern town of Gao will vastly boost the firepower of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), sources said, even as the coup-torn country's embattled transitional government struggled to assert its authority over the vast desert north.
"It's one of the main depots of the Malian army," a security source told AFP, adding that it had been built in case of "a long and difficult war."
A regional security source confirmed the seizure, saying the vast cache of weapons will "really boost AQIM's striking power", and adding: "It is really impressive what AQIM has found in the underground depot."
"Al-Qaeda is today more armed than the combined armies of Mali and Burkina Faso by Allah's permission", Blogger Censored31 said.
The underground weapons and ammunition depot in the strategic northeastern town of Gao will vastly boost the firepower of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), sources said, even as the coup-torn country's embattled transitional government struggled to assert its authority over the vast desert north.
"It's one of the main depots of the Malian army," a security source told AFP, adding that it had been built in case of "a long and difficult war."
A regional security source confirmed the seizure, saying the vast cache of weapons will "really boost AQIM's striking power", and adding: "It is really impressive what AQIM has found in the underground depot."
"Al-Qaeda is today more armed than the combined armies of Mali and Burkina Faso by Allah's permission", Blogger Censored31 said.
