Le Figaro and France24 report that a fighter from the Polisario Front--a separatist group based in desert camps near Tindouf, Algeria--was among seven militants taken prisoner after a fierce battle between French-Chadian forces and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in the mountains of northern Mali, which reportedly killed key al-Qaeda leader Abou Zeid and 42 other jihadists.
Last month, Malian foreign minister Tiéman Coulibaly confirmed the presence of "Polisario" fighters among terrorist groups fighting in northern Mali. "In the beginning, they were only 500 insurgents," said Coulibaly. "Now there are between 5,500 to 7,000 terrorists in northern Mali who were joined by lost youths, including young Sahrawis from the (Tindouf) camps," the Malian Foreign Minister said in an interview with French electronic news website "AtlasInfo."
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