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NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) - Islamic leaders freed from jail after last week's coup in Mauritania said Wednesday they were wrongly branded as terrorists — and that the toppled president himself was responsible for any extremism in this overwhelmingly Muslim nation.
Experts also said U.S.-allied President Maaya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya's allegations that Islamic terrorists were at work in Mauritania were exaggerated, adding to widespread resentment that led to his downfall in an Aug. 3 military putsch.
Taya, who seized power in a 1984 coup, had cracked down hard on political enemies for years, imprisoning dozens of politicians, soldiers and Islamic leaders.
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