[1] Since 2005, remnants of the jihadist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) militia that committed various massacres during the Algerian Civil War began conducting an insurgency in rural Mauritania and Mali.

[3] AQIM was able to gain so much influence in Mauritania due to the country's relatively weak military and impoverished, rural society.

Eighty kilometers from the city, near the village of Tourine, AQIM fighters ambushed the convoy.

The initial report stated that four vehicles were destroyed, damaged, or captured, and eleven soldiers and a guide were missing.

The ambush and beheadings were likely carried out by three other katibas, commanded by Abdelhamid Abou Zeid and Djamel Okacha.