Mauritanian officials say unknown gunmen have killed at least three government soldiers in an attack on a military post.
News media have quoted officials who asked not to be named as saying the attack took place Thursday in the northeastern region, near the town of Ghalawiya, close to the Mauritanian-Algerian border.
The attack follows the assassination of four French tourists on Monday in eastern Mauritania. The government has blamed an al-Qaida sleeper cell for the killings.
A newspaper editor Isselmou Ould Moustapha in Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott, told VOA it is believed that the same group attacked the military post Thursday.
In 2005, Islamic militants killed at least 15 government troops in a June attack on a military post near the border with Mali.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
