Polisario war heats up

Press, 14 December 1977, Page 8

Polisario war heats up

NZPA-Reuter Novakchott, Mauritania A large force of Polisario Saharan guerrillas attacked an iron-ore train early on Monday on its way from the mining town of Zouerate in northern Mauritania, according to reliable sources in Novakchott. Mauritania. ■ Details of casualties or [damage had not been made available yesterday, but [fighting between the guerrillas and Mauritanian [troops was said to have continued for several hours. The 120-vehicle Polisario [column later withdrew, puri sued by Mauritanian units, [according to reports. The sources say the attack Took place between the [bases of Touajil and Choum, i about 100 km south-west of I Zouerate. I It occurred near the sites

of two previous attacks on the 600 km-long railway linking Zouerate with the port of Nouadhibou. Ore trains were suspended for more than a month after guerrillas seized 24 Mauritanian and two French railway-maintenance workers in October. The latest, attack came as t a Mauritanian official, Mr ! Ismael Ould Amar, was ■ holding talks with financiers in Saudi Arabia about an ambitious SNZIOOOM plan to iwork iron-ore deposits north of Zouerate. i Reliable sources yesterday 'were not ruling out the possibility that French twin-jet Jaguars had already intervened against the guerrilla [convoy, or might intervene. Jaguars have been overI flying Mauritanian territory [daily for several weeks. In Brussels,, a Polisario

spokesman said French aircraft had been involved in an aerial strike that had killed three Saharan guerrillas and several Mauritanian prisoners in desert fighting on December 2. He reaffirmed an earlier Polisario statement in Algiers that a French Jaguar I fighter had been hit by Polisario fire, and had made a [forced landing inside Maujritania. France last week denied that its planes had taken part in military operations in the western Sahara. In Dakar, Senegal, French military sources said that eight Jaguars were now based there and had carried out several missions of five or six hours at ! a time over the Sahara. The purpose of

the planes was understood to be mainly reconnaissance. The Polisario spokesman said a Saharan column had come under attack from the Jaguars and from Mauritanian Defencer aircraft while it was attacking a Mauritanian military base at Boulanouar, near the Mauritanian port of Nouadhibou. Without stipulating the j nationality of the plane or ■ planes which he said had ■ done the strafing, the PoliIsario spokesman said the [French intervention had ; killed three guerrillas and I several Mauritanian prisoners. This was the first direct [intervention by French [armed forces in the Polisario's war with Mauritania and Morocco over the for- ■ mer Spanish Sahara, according to the guerrilla [spokesman.