Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is an ex-general who took power in a coup and is a relentless foe of Al-Qaeda-linked militants in the Sahel region.

Abdel Aziz -- who as flown to Paris Sunday after a shooting incident -- is a former leader of the presidential guard who has been in power for four years.

He succeeded Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi in August 2008 after overthrowing his former ally, whom he had backed in presidential elections the previous year.

The men fell out when Abdallahi sought to replace him as the head of the presidential guard, in an apparent effort to curb Abdel Aziz' political influence.

Within hours Abdel Aziz mounted a coup. The first thing the new junta announced was that it would scrap the changes in the army decreed by Abdallahi.

Abdel Aziz was subsequently elected president in the first round of a July 2009 election, amid claims of widespread fraud.

He was born in 1956 in Akjoujt, north of the capital Nouakchott, into a tribe of marabouts or Islamic holy men.

He attended the royal military academy in Meknes, Morocco, joined Mauritania's army in 1977 and helped set up the battalion of the presidential guard in the 1990s.

The prestigious force was instrumental in overthrowing president Maaouiya Ould Taya in a bloodless coup in 2005.

Abdel Aziz was part of the military regime that governed Mauritania between 2005 and 2007.

It handed power to the civilian government following the country's first presidential elections, hailed by the international community as a model for African democracy.

In power, Abdel Aziz has been particularly active in the fight against extremism and criticised his predecessor for being too soft on the Islamist fighters.

He led a military campaign against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and has been the target of several failed assassination attempts by AQIM, Al-Qaeda's franchise in North Africa, according to sources.

From July 2010 to 2011 the Mauritanian army raided Islamist positions in Mali and set up bases in the Timbuktu region for joint operations with the Malian army.

The aim, to prevent attacks and kidnappings in Mauritania with preemptive strikes, had some successes. Plots were foiled, including one against Abdel Aziz himself, and the kidnapping of foreigners in the south all but halted.

However, he has ruled out sending troops to Mali to take part in a possible West African military operation, backed by the United Nations, to win back the north of the country now controlled by Islamist militants.

But experts say that the Mauritanian army's knowledge of the terrain and of jihadi groups could play a major role in gathering and using intelligence.

The Mauritanian president has a reputation for an austere and modest lifestyle. But in his run for president he adopted a high profile and ran a campaign that was described by his detractors as populist.

It was aimed at poorer voters with promises of lower prices and harsh treatment for the wrong-doers whom, he said, had "looted the country for decades".