News from Algeria 2007

[Al-khiyal]

10 ans de prison pour un Algérien
qui a soutenu des personnes impliquées dans les attaques de Madrid

Algerian indicted for providing support to Madrid bombing perpetrators

A Tunisian court sentenced five men on terrorism charges on Friday (April 6th). In two separate cases computer expert Mohamed Moncef Baghdadi received the heaviest sentence of 28 years in prison. In the first case, he was charged with belonging to and collecting funds for a terrorist organisation, and with raising money to send recruits to join Algeria's Al Qaeda Organisation of the Islamic Maghreb. In the same case, two other suspects received 10 years in jail. In the second case, Baghdadi faced charges of training in making explosives for use in Iraq. The other defendant in the case received a 16-year sentence. Additionally, student Mehdi Mabrouk, was sentenced to seven years in prison for planning to join Iraq's insurgency, AP quoted the defendants' lawyer as saying.

Meanwhile, an Algiers criminal court sentenced an Algerian with the initials C. F. for involvement in the Madrid bombings on March 11th 2004, the El Khabar daily reported on Sunday. Reportedly, C. F. supported the Madrid attacks by forging passports for the perpetrators. The Algerian was arrested in Turkey before being extradited to Algeria in 2006.

Terrorists sentenced in Tunisia and Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

9 soldiers, 6 armed Islamic militants killed in clash in northwest Algeria

A military patrol in Aid Defla heights has been taken by surprise by a considerable number of terrorists who shot the militaries randomly. The ambush resulted in nine army member victims and seven killed terrorists, so the people’s national army launched a large-scale raking operation in the Meliana suburbs to look for the terrorists.

While the servicemen were crossing a forest walk in Tizi Ouine, they were taken by surprise by more than 50 terrorists, according to local sources, and then a violent clash which lasted around half an hour took place.

A source who follows the terrorist group's activity in the region stated that the ambush bears the hallmark of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat – GSPC - renamed al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb last January.

The terrorist organization's members of the first operations area, which includes Ain Defla and Medea, are said to have perpetrated the terrorist assault, a source mentioned. This suggests that the aggressors are the same who attacked the bus transporting Russians and Ukrainians between Aid Defla and Medea earlier last March.

9 army members and 7 terrorists killed in Ain Defla

[Al-khiyal]

Le wali d’Oran interdit une session de formation du Snapap

[Al-khiyal]

Sentences against terrorists pronounced in different jurisdictions nationwide

[Al-khiyal]

Lundi 9 Avril 2007 -- Le cadavre d’un homme âgé de 39 ans, répondant aux initiales B. A., a été découvert, vendredi dernier à Sidi-El-Kebir, localité située à 3 kilomètres à l’est de Blida. C’est suite à une plainte déposée par la sœur de la victime que les éléments de la police ont déclenché une enquête qui a abouti à la découverte du corps de la victime. Celle-ci, qui n’a plus revu son frère et en même temps son voisin depuis quelques jours, a alerté la police.

Transportée à la morgue de l’hôpital Frantz-Fanon par la Protection civile, la dépouille mortelle a été examinée par un médecin légiste qui a établi que la victime a été tuée avec une arme à feu puisque des balles ont été retrouvées au niveau du cou et de l’abdomen. Toutefois, la date de la mort de B. A. n’a pas encore été déterminée. L’enquête se poursuit pour faire toute la lumière sur cette mort mystérieuse. Notons enfin que la victime était mariée et père de deux enfants.

Découverte macabre d'un homme assassiné par balle

[Al-khiyal]

Algiers, April 9 (NNN-APS) Algeria’s Head of the Government, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, and the Secretary of the Libyan General Popular Committee, El Baghdadi Ali El Mahmoudi, will co-chair on Monday in Tripoli, Libya, the 12th Algerian-Libyan executive commission of cooperation meeting.

The head of government's office said in a statement released here Saturday that during his visit to Libya, Belkhadem will be accompanied by an important ministerial delegation.

This session of the commission was to be preceded by a preparatory meeting of the follow-up committee on Saturday and Sunday, under the joint presidency of the Algerian Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs, Abdelkader Messahel, and the Secretary of the General Popular Committee of Libya in charge of active forces of training and employment, the statement added.

During the session, both parties will assess the co-operation between both countries in all domains and will examine ways to step up such co-operation at the instruction of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the statement said.

Algeria, Libya to hold co-operation commission meeting Monday

[Al-khiyal]

Algiers, April 9 (NNN-APS) The Algerian navy is taking part in the “Phoenix Express 2007” multinational naval exercise which also involves units from France, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States.

Commander of naval forces General Malek Nessib Saturday inspected the escort vessel Mourad Raïs before it sailed from Algiers to take part in the April 10 to 24 exercise to be held in Spain, naval forces information officer Lieutenant Colonel Deffairi Slimane said.

The exercise, to be conducted for the second year in a row, is being held with the aim of reinforcing operational co-operation between the US Sixth Fleet and the navies of the countries concerned in a bid to co-ordinate efforts and unify the operating procedures, Lt.-Col. Deffairi added.

The objectives of the exercise are the "planning and execution of a complicated exercise, on the maritime interdiction as well as the control and the follow up of the maritime activities through the setting up of a common operational centre in the Spanish base of Rota".

Through this exercise, the aim is also to train assault groups of the participating countries, train crews on struggle for survival as well as to generalize the use of the Automatic Information System (AIS) and information exchange, he added.

Training crews on helicopter landings and mastering search and rescue operations, communication, sailing in groups as well as operations of supply, towing and technical evacuations in offshore areas are also priorities for the exercise.

Algerian navy takes part in multinational naval exercise