Military Clashes Erupt in Western Sahara After 30-Year Truce

  • Morocco says repelled Polisario attack with anti-tank weaponry
  • Polisario declares war because Rabat ‘violated’ 1991 truce
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A long-frozen conflict in Western Sahara erupted on Friday as Morocco attempted to end a trade blockade by the region’s independence movement, triggering the first major clashes since 1991.

The Moroccan army said it fired anti-tank weaponry to repel an attack by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front on a military outpost in the disputed territory, threatening to overwhelm the three-decade-old cease-fire negotiated by the United Nations.