20110202
Xinhua
NOUAKCHOTT, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Three terrorist suspects were killed in a blast detonated by the Mauritanian army on Wednesday near the capital city Nouakchott, according to the military and witnesses.

The three suspects were killed instantly on board a vehicle loaded with explosives 12 km away from Nouakchott after a unit of army in pursuit of the pickup truck fired a shell in an pre- emptive attack.

Eight soldiers were reportedly injured in the explosion, which was heard by residents in the city.

The military said the suspects attempted a suicide attack on government buildings in Nouakchott.

Security forces noticed three vehicles entering Mauritania from northern Mali on Friday. They arrested two men on Tuesday on suspicion of their links to an abandoned SUV full of explosives in the desert. Search is going on for the third suspicious vehicle, the authorities said.

Mauritania has suffered repeated attacks from the al-Qaida branch in North Africa (AQIM) since 2006, when the infiltration of the group first surfaced in the Sahel-Sahara region.

In one of the cases, AQIM launched a suicide bomb attack near the French Embassy in Nouakchott in August 2009.

The Mauritanian army has since intensified crackdown on the group, killing dozens of AQIM members in surprise raids, including operations in the northern desert of Mali, where the group is believed to have bases.