RABAT (Reuters) – Four explosions late on Saturday in the city of Smara in Morocco-controlled Western Sahara killed one man and injured three others, local authorities said.
The blasts damaged two houses, authorities said in a statement, without adding further details.
Morocco considers Western Sahara its own territory, but the Algerian-backed Polisario Front wants an independent state there.
In November 2020, Polisario said it had resumed its armed struggle.
Most of the fighting was described by the UN as “low intensity”, and occurring mostly in the uninhabited eastern part of the Morocco-built security wall.
Morocco has said autonomy is the most it can offer to the territory as a political solution. The Polisario and its ally Algeria demand an independent state.
The UN Security Council has urged the parties to the conflict to seek a mutually acceptable solution.Israel was the latest country to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory in July, a move the U.S. took in 2020.
Twenty-eight other countries – mostly African and Arab – have opened consulates in Dakhla or the city of Laayoune, in what Morocco sees as tangible support for its Western Saharan rule.
(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
