The analysis of terrorism in Mauritania reveals how the discrimination of minority groups facilitated the resort to terrorism. But more importantly, it demonstrates that effective state response involving the whole of government and whole of society engagement including purposeful partnership with the international community are central to the containment of terrorism. To this effect, Mauritania has witnessed remarkable decline of domestic terrorism since 2010 despite its long stretch of contiguous borders with terrorism ravaged state like Mali and vulnerable areas of southern Algeria. Mauritania’s counterterrorism engagements have however stimulated serious human rights concerns which constitute potent danger for the country.