10, 000 Algerian Troops Deploy to Hunt AQIM

Algeria has deployed 10,000 soldiers to search for the perpetrators of the bomb attack on 17 June, which left 18 Algerian police and one civilian dead, local media has reported.The attack, the most deadly strike against government forces in six months, took place in the central province of Bordj Bou Arreridj last Wednesday night.

The police were escorting a convoy of Chinese construction workers who are building a highway from the capital Algiers to city Mansoura, when two roadside bombs went off and attackers opened fire on the military convoy.

SITE, the American organization that monitors terrorist activity, claims that Al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the regional branch of Al-Qaida, has taken responsibility for the attack.

• Al-Qa’ida claims that 24 of its soldiers were killed and blames the Algerian army for intentionally killing the civilian.
• So far in the hunt for the attackers, several people have been arrested and a large haul of weapons and ammunition has been seized.
• “It’s quite strange that such a huge attack could occur; in northern Algeria terrorism has almost completely vanished,” Omar Benderra of Algeria-Watch, an organization based in France and campaigning for human rights in Algeria, told The Media Line.
• “You need one hundred men, heavily armed, properly prepared with inside information” Benderra said.

The attack marks the latest in a string of attacks on the Algerian army, which started in August 2008 when 48 people were killed in a bomb attack on a police academy.

In May 2009, 14 policemen were killed in two ambushes allegedly carried out by Al-Qa’ida.

There was no official confirmation from Algerian authorities whether or not the latest deployment was a specific response to the recent attack or part of the wider regional campaign

Algeria launched together with Mali, Mauritania and Niger in May 2009 against terrorists based in the northern parts of the Sahara.

• As Algeria is the strongest of the four countries, it has been providing the others with military equipment and fuel, and basics such as sleeping bags.
• Several organizations around the globe claim to be officially sanctioned subdivisions of Al-Qa’ida but only the branch in North Africa posts videos of several high-ranking Al-Qa’ida members to back their claims.
• Militant Islamist groups have been using parts of the Saharan desert in northern Mali as a base to hide Western hostages and launch bombing and shooting attacks in Algeria, particularly along the Mediterranean coast.
• Algeria has been plagued with political violence since 1990, when the army rejected the election result that gave power to the Islamic party, which resulted in a bloody civil war.
  

The Rest @ The Media Line


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AQIM has been Quiet Since the Plague

This is a somewhat painful-to-read translation of an article from a an Algerian French language Newspaper, discussing their investigation into the dismanteling of some AQIM logistics teams in the Tizi Ouzou Region of Nothern Algeria, an AQIM stronghold.

This was first published on February 1st, 2009. In context, this was about when a number of AQIM Mujahadeen surrendered because of a black plaque outbreak in This same region.

- Shimron Issachar


Kept in total secret, the key to this "war chest" are held by one terrorist leader, in this case Ben Ali Touati alias Abu Tammimi who visited recently.

The security forces come to get their hands on a powder keg! A huge stock of explosives of the former GSPC containing five kilograms of TNT and as nitric acid, ready for use were discovered at Timezrit, a town located 35km south-west of the wilaya of Boumerdes.

More exactly, the explosives were located in lieudit Tihachadine, located between Timezrit and Ait Yahia Moussa, an area located near the vast mass of Sidi Ali Bounab known to be a real GSPC stronghold for years.

The cache was established in the late 90s by the henchmen of Hassan Hattab, then national emir of the former GSPC.

• The former terrorists who were returning from the war in Afghanistan and then those of Iraq, have been instrumental in the establishment of the stock used in the manufacture of bombs and other explosives for attacks including the suicide bombers.
• Kept in total secret, the key to this "war chest" are held by one terrorist leader, in this case the emir of Ansar El Seriate called Ben Ali Touati alias Abu Tammimi. The location of the stock in question was revealed by the Emir who visited with weapons and baggage security services in Tizi Ouzou 17 days ago, according to a reliable source safe.
• The surrender of this veteran of Afghanistan came after the Hattab, on the one hand and the other, it would, of course, due to guéguerre [internal war?] within the Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.
• Thus, he negotiated his surrender by providing matching information of the first order to the forces of the PNA, in the image of this stock of TNT and nitric acid.

The operation of such explosives enfouillissement occurring last weekend [ 30-31 Januray?] was led jointly by the heads of the military areas of Tizi Ouzou and Boumerdes.

• This huge quantity of TNT was buried in up to 6 metal drums and the acid in plastic cans and all protected by plastic sheeting, however, our source.
• Aged forty years, Ben Ali Touati alias Abu Tammimi, Dellys east from where he was the emir of seriata of this city before he was promoted to head of the Ansar el katibet by Droukdel.
• This formidable katibet over 70 activists working in the area stretching of Isser through Timezrit, Bordj Menaiel, Naciria, Baghlia, and Dellys Tigzirt. With this umpteenth battering, Al Qaeda in the Maghreb with the latest media attack began last August, going through a very critical stage in recent months.

The security services continued their action on the ground with more confidence now that the results of destruction of GSPC are tangible.

The terrorist organization is expressed less in recent months, even in regions where it was rampant with the attacks, a few years ago.

Should also be noted that the direction of the former GSPC in the center of the country, is virtually wiped out with the surrender of the most wanted terrorist and close to Droukdel.

• In addition, tens of Logistics cells are dismantled in Boumerdes and Tizi Ouzou over the last 10 days according to our source.
• At the level of massive Bounab Sidi Ali, the police have discovered and defused four bombs.
• Here, a terrorist group composed of at least fifteen elements, all close to the former head of the GSPC, expect the gun to the foot, when to go.
• These elements seem entrenched in a cave and waiting time H.
• Furthermore, according to credible sources, a terrorist refuge in a cave of Akfadou would have counted among his people, the dead, when they were hunted by the police.
• The security forces reportedly transported in a health institution that would have confirmed that they died of the plague.

Since the people of this region of Akfadou were advised not to approach the scene. One thing is certain is that the terrorists across their backs are really "in trouble".

In addition, a network of support for armed terrorist groups was dismantled in the town of Tadmait, 20 kilometers east of Tizi Ouzou, it was learned yesterday from reliable sources.

• The network in question consists of nine people including a woman.
• According to our sources, they have all been submitted to the prosecutor and five placed in custody.
• The other four are now under judicial control.

The Rest @ Lejune Algerien by way of Wikio