Western Sahara: 19 deaths, more than 700 injured and 159 missing in violent attacks against camp of Gdeim Izik by maroccan army
Deadly clashes erupted this week between Moroccan forces and local rebels in Western Sahara — a long-disputed region of northwestern Africa.
The violence coincided with a round of talks — informally backed by the United Nations — between Morocco and representatives of Polisario Front, the region’s independence movement.
Polisario said Moroccan authorities raided a camp on Monday in Western Sahara, leaving 19 people dead, 723 wounded, and 159 missing, and the group said the fighting has continued since then. Morocco’s official news agency said eight Moroccan police officers also died in the raid.
Ahmed Boukhari, a Polisario representative, told CNN in an e-mail Tuesday that “the tragic events” were “the result of a deliberate act carried out by Morocco to undermine the current U.N. peace process.”