Algerian army kills Mauritanian and Sahrawi gold miners

Algerian army personnel have reportedly killed Mauritanian and Sahrawi gold miners in an operation conducted on Thursday in the locality of El Kouissi, within Algerian territory. The provisional toll stands at four gold miners dead and one seriously injured.

The soldiers also seized the victims' equipment and vehicles. So far, the Polisario has remained silent on the incident, as have Mauritanian media, particularly those in the Zouérate region.

This is not the first such incident. Last May, an Algerian drone strike killed nine gold miners residing in the Tindouf camps, yet the Polisario failed to respond.

A month earlier, Algerian soldiers reportedly killed three Sahrawi gold miners from the same camps. In October 2020, two Sahrawi gold miners were burned alive by Algerian soldiers in a seven-meter-deep well they were excavating.