Polisario ‘on attack again’

Press, 21 December 1977, Page 9

Polisario ‘on attack again’

NZPA-Reuter Nouakchott, Mauritania Polisario guerrillas have carried out another attack against Mauritanian forces, and 82 guerrillas and 30 Mauritanian troops died in the fighting, according to official sources in Nouakchott, Mauritania. The sources said Moroccan and not French planes had intervened against a Polisario column during an earlier attack last week. The Polisario Front said in Algiers on Monday that French Jaguar aircraft had taken part in the action killing dozens of guerrillas. Yesterday’s attack, at Tmechat, was directed at the Nouadhibout-Zouerate railway line which runs close to the border of the former Spanish Sahara and is a prime target for Polisario guerrillas. The railway line is used solely for transporting iron ore from the huge mining

complex at Zouerate to the Atlantic port of Nouadhibout, some 650 km to the west.

The iron ore brings in about 85 per cent of Mauritania’s foreign-currency revenue.

The sources in Nouakchott said that during yesterday’s fighting, 22 Polisario vehicles — about half of the attacking column — had been destroyed.

Mauritania had lost four vehicles during the fighting, the sources said.

Referring to the December 12 fighting in which the Polisario alleged that French aircraft took part, the sources in Nouakchott said propeller-driven Moroccan T 6 planes had intervened in support of Mauritania i troops.

Mauritanian Army headquarters said that contact with the Polisario column which made yesterday’s attack had been maintained, and that fighting was still going on near Lechmeis, 50 km north of Tmechat.