Security forces in Ardrar province in southwestern Algeria intercepted a shipment of arms from Sabha, Libya destined for al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb forces in the Malian city of Khalil, and killed five members of the allied Islamist group MUJAO who were protecting the shipment. Security forces dismantled a terrorist cell in the southern province of Tamranasset and destroyed two smugglers’ cars laden with ammunition. Algeria offered to help the Libyan military and police. The separatist Polisario front denied allegations that Islamist militants from Mali had infiltrated the group’s Sahrawi refugee camps in western Algeria.
