The Tindouf region in Algeria, where three European nationals were abducted last Sunday, has turned into a "new Afghanistan" and is "a very dangerous region for Westerners," the newspaper quoted the expert and Italian journalist Hamza Boccolini.

Citing several sources attributing the kidnapping to a group of Sahrawi elements acting in collusion with "Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb" (AQIM), the daily says that this confirms "that this place is infiltrated by elements of al Qaeda ready to betray and sell humanitarians.»

"This area is managed by the elements of the Polisario Front, who are now divided into various factions," the newspaper said on its website.

"L'Unione Sarda" stressed the instability reigning now in theis Saharan area where "the danger comes not only from terrorists but also from bands of drug traffickers and Tuareg mercenaries returning from Libya after the fall of Gaddafi."

Friday, another Italian newspaper, "Corriere della Sera" said that the three Western hostages, an Italian and two Spanish kidnapped Sunday in the Rabouni camp, near Tindouf, were "in the hands of the Sahrawi band of AQIM. "

This AQIM group is controlled by Hakim Ould Mohammed M'barek, a former member of the Polisario, which joined forces loyal to the Emir Al Jawad, one of the leaders of Al Qaeda in the Sahara, it added.

Arrested in Bamako in 2008 and transferred to Mauritania, Hakim had "admitted during questioning the existence of centers of indoctrination and recruitment in the Polisario camps in Algeria," said the Italian newspaper.

- News on Western Sahara issue / Corcas -