'Al-Qaeda snatched missiles' in Libya | News.com.au

'Al-Qaeda snatched missiles' in Libya | News.com.au: "AL-QAEDA'S offshoot in North Africa has snatched surface-to-air missiles from an arsenal in Libya during the civil strife there, Chad's President says.

Idriss Deby Itno did not say how many surface-to-air missiles were stolen, but told the African weekly Jeune Afrique that he was '100 per cent sure' of his assertion.

'The Islamists of al-Qaeda took advantage of the pillaging of arsenals in the rebel zone to acquire arms, including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries in Tenere,' a desert region of the Sahara that stretches from northeast Niger to western Chad, Deby said in the interview.

'This is very serious. AQIM is becoming a genuine army, the best equipped in the region,' he said.

His claim was echoed by officials in other countries in the region who said that they were worried that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) might have acquired 'heavy weapons', thanks to the insurrection."