TIME, 6 Feb 10: In the three years since allying itself with Osama bin Laden, North Africa’s al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) militant group has worked hard to align its terror activities and communications with those of its radical parent organization. Topping the list of the techniques AQIM has borrowed from its brothers in the Middle East and South Asia is kidnapping Westerners to net big-money ransoms — or carefully choreographing their executions to shock the world. . . .
. . . . Apart from a one-off abduction of 32 Europeans trekking in the Algerian desert in 2003, North African militants never showed much of an interest in kidnapping until they linked up with al-Qaeda in 2007. Since then, it’s become a veritable habit. Hard figures are hard to come by, but analysts believe some 15 to 30 Westerners have been abducted by AQIM in North Africa in the last three years. While the group has unleashed many of its most violent terrorist acts (bombings and shootings) in cities like Algiers, its kidnappings have all taken place in the vast Sahel region stretching across Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Mali, Niger, Libya and Tunisia. According to experts, the number of insurgents roaming the desert area in four-wheel vehicles has increased from a few score to perhaps 200 in the past two years. . . .
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