Wary of disorder in Libya and Mali, Algerian army targets southern smuggling

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Fearing armed chaos in neighbouring Libya and renewed conflict in Mali, Algeria's army is shifting focus from fighting Islamist militants at home to the Sahel border smuggling that feeds them in the region.

Since last month, the Algerian military says it has arrested more than 650 suspected smugglers on its borders with Libya, Mali and Niger in a campaign to tighten the largely desolate and trackless desert frontiers with the Sahel to its south.