Al-Qaeda says it killed an American in Mauritania

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania - Al-Qaeda's North African branch has claimed responsibility for the killing of an American aid worker shot dead this week in Mauritania's capital, Al-Jazeera TV reported yesterday.

The Arab satellite TV station aired an audio statement purportedly issued by al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb spokesman Salah Abu Mohammed, who said the group killed Christopher Ervin Leggett, 39, on Tuesday because he was allegedly trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.

"Two knights of the Islamic Maghreb succeeded Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. to kill the infidel American Christopher Leggett for his Christianizing activities," the statement said. Its authenticity could not be verified.

Leggett was shot several times by at least two unidentified gunmen who rushed up to him on a Nouakchott street, witnesses said. An AP correspondent at the scene saw officials from the U.S. Embassy arrive as the body lay on the pavement. U.S. officials have so far declined to comment.

Leggett grew up in Cleveland, Tenn., and taught at a center specializing in computer science and languages in El Kasr, a lower-class neighborhood in Nouakchott, according to his neighbors in the United States.

The Rev. Jim Gibson, co-pastor of First Baptist Church of Cleveland, said Leggett was a church member and attended on return trips, but worked independently in the African nation. Gibson said Leggett had lived for six years in Africa with his wife and four children.

Mauritania's Interior Ministry said yesterday that it was investigating the death and that security forces were doing "all they can to catch the criminals."

In neighboring Senegal, U.S. Gen. William "Kip" Ward, head of the U.S. military command responsible for Africa, denounced the attack during a news conference in the capital, Dakar.

Ward called Leggett's slaying "deplorable." He said the American response to the terrorist group's activities was focused on increasing the capacities of partner nations to deal with such threats, in part through military training.

Extremist violence in Mauritania, a moderate Muslim nation, has increased in recent years. In 2007, four French picnickers were killed. The gunmen were believed to be linked to al-Qaeda's north Africa branch and the incident prompted organizers of the famous Dakar Rally to cancel the trans-Sahara car race.