Magreb y Sahel

NIAMEY, Niger — More than six months ago, a group of American soldiers rushed to reach a spot in the scrubland of Niger after intelligence officials intercepted a signal from the cellphone of a terrorist known as Doundoun Cheffou. He wasn’t there, but hours later four of the Americans were killed in an ambush that remains under investigation.

This month, Nigerien forces apprehended a man who matches the description of Mr. Cheffou, a senior lieutenant of a former affiliate of Al Qaeda that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The Nigerien authorities are working to verify his identity, said a senior Nigerien commander, an account that was confirmed by a retired American counterterrorism official.

In an interview on Friday at a Nigerien base outside the city of Agadez, where the United States is building a new drone base, Col. Maj. Moussa Salaou Barmou, the head of the Nigerien Special Forces, said the man suspected of being Mr. Cheffou was seized during an army patrol two weeks ago in the Tillaberi region near the Mali border.

The man has been turned over to a special counterterrorism police unit in the country’s capital, Niamey, where agents are working to identify him.

“They are the ones still conducting the investigation and trying to identify this guy,” said Colonel Major Barmou, a 29-year army veteran who trained at Fort Benning, Ga., and the National Defense University in Washington.

Fuente: The New York Times