Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


                         Militant Groups Unite in Mali

   An al-Qaida-linked group led by the alleged mastermind of a January
   attack on an Algerian gas plant is joining forces with one of the
   Islamist militant groups that seized control of northern Mali last
   year.
   The Nouakchott Information Agency, in Mauritania, says terror leader
   Mokhtar Belmokhtar`s Masked Men Brigade has formed an alliance with the
   Mali-based group known as MUJAO
   The news agency says the new alliance will be called "al
   Mourabitounes."
   In a Thursday statement, the agency says the group has vowed to support
   Islamists in Egypt and seek revenge against France for leading an
   intervention in Mali this year to oust Islamist militants.
   The two groups are believed to have worked together in previous
   attacks. Both groups claimed responsibility for May attacks on military
   barracks and a French-owned uranium mine in Niger.
   Belmokhtar, an Algerian, broke away from al-Qaida in the Islamic
   Maghreb to form the Masked Men Brigade.
   The United States has charged him with participating in the January gas
   plant attack in Algeria that killed at least 37 people, including three
   Americans.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/militant-groups-unite-in-mali/1734884
   .html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/militant-groups-unite-in-mali/1734884.html