Tawhid and Jihad member surrenders in Algeria

A Mauritanian from the Tawhid and Jihad organisation, surrendered himself to Algerian security forces in Timimoun, in the south of Adrar province, on Thursday. The Islamist had Mauritanian identity papers and admitted membership of Tawhid and Jihad an extremist, fundamentalist Sunni organisation and splinter group of al-Qaeda, which has been designated a terrorist group by the United States. After questioning, the Mauritanian reportedly revealed his role within the armed organisation was limited to transferring and smuggling weapons from Mauritania to Mali through Algeria. Security sources confirmed to Arabstoday that the man had information related to one of the Algerian  diplomats held by the Tawhid and Jihad group in Gao, northern Mali. Meanwhile the Criminal Court of Skikda province sentenced armed militants to life imprisonment in absentia, on charges of involvement in terrorism and armed robbery.