|
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - The U.S. military Thursday ended a three-week anti-terrorism exercise with African troops aimed at sharpening defenses against al-Qaida-linked militants and denying them sanctuary in Africa's ungoverned spaces.
As many as 25 percent of the foreign fighters in Iraq went there from North Africa to fight U.S. forces and their allies, and a small number of fighters are returning to North Africa, trained in guerrilla tactics and bomb-making, U.S. officials have said.
Starting June 6, 700 U.S. troops and 2,100 soldiers from nine North and West African nations conducted mock patrols, target practice and parachute drops in which hundreds of African soldiers leaped out of C-130 transport planes.
|