Suspected al-Qaeda members have killed 12 Mauritanian soldiers in a desert ambush. According to the AP, officials said the assailants ambushed an army unit patrolling Monday in the Tourine area, 850 kilometres north of the capital of Nouakchott.

Sources said casualties from the attack were taken to a local hospital in Zouerate.

Al-Qaeda in North Africa has called for a jihad following the Aug. 6 military overthrow of President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

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