Algeria hit by surge in guerrilla violence

[Al-khiyal]

12 soldiers wounded in two mine explosions

[Al-khiyal]

Three days before expiry of reconciliation charter’s deadline, army takes up positions in Algeria’s hotspots

[Al-khiyal]

2 policemen and a civilian murdered in Bejaia

[Sminette]

Can't believe these days are coming back...feeling so down about this whole issue..

[Al-khiyal]

The Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) in Algeria issued to its official website on Tuesday, August 29, 2006, a one and a half hour video presentation titled: “The Apostate’s Hell,” the second edition of a series of Mujahideen operations tracking training, preparation, attack, and celebration. This particular film, also distributed across several jihadist forums, features five such operations executed in al-Bouira, Tabsa, al-Defla, Azaqa, and the border between Algeria and Mali. Excerpts from speeches of Usama bin Laden, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in which the al-Qaeda leaders greet the GSPC, play over preparatory stages for Mujahideen attacks. Other footage and speeches slander Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, including images of Bouteflika with U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and French President Jacques Chirac. This propaganda, in addition to a clip of an interview with former Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, Robert H. Pelletreau, seek to show complicity of the Algerian regume with those who allegedly wage war on Islam and jihad: “They are trying to put out the jihad which made them sleepless and stood as an obstacle for their projects to occupy the Islamic world. These are ugly faces and the heads of betrayal”.

The five operations each open with an explanation of the target and the result of the attack. For example, in Azazga, in the jurisdiction of Tizi Wazo, the GSPC Mujahideen ambushed an armored car transporting money to a bank, first detonating a small explosive to stop the car, then shooting the driver before moving the vehicle to another location. A wad of money is flipped through and another shown on a table, combined totally 150,000 euros. In another operation, in Ein Foris in Tabsa, the Mujahideen ambush a convoy of Algerian security guards, killed twelve, then slitting the throats of the deceased and removing their personal effects. The other attacks also involve ambushes and target Algerian security forces and Mali counterterrorism forces.

Concluding the video are messages and poetry recitals extolling jihad as the “source of glory, the supporter of dignity, the source of qualification” and incumbent upon Muslims to engage in for the victory of Islam. Young men from Mauriania speak to the camera and incite others to jihad, one stating that all disturbances the Salafist Group for Call and Combat endured only strengthened its supporters and made its leaders wiser. He adds that as the battles continue against the “Algerian tyrant,” the hostility has only increased, leading ultimately, to the tyrant’s slaughter.

The Apostate’s Hell - The Second Round: A Video presentation by the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) in Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

Tizi Ouzou’s security commission attributed abductions carried out last month in the area to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). Five businessmen were abducted for a ransom in return of their release. The fifth abduction occurred last weekend in Larbâa Nathirathen.

Reliable sources informed El Khabar that the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat is behind different abductions carried out in Tizi Ouzou and Zoufan last month. This information was confirmed by the Wilaya’s security commission headed by the prefect.

Even if responsibility was not claimed by the Salafist Group, investigations lead to it. Most of the abducted people released after their relatives paid a ransom confirmed they dealt with terrorists.

The first abducted was the owner of a pub in Iflisene (Tizi Ouzou). His abduction occurred late December 2005. The second was an owner of a nightclub in Tigzirt. Haddad Public works Group owner’s brother was then kidnapped. In Draa Benkhedda, a printing business owner “El Aures” was released in return for a ransom of one billion centimes. The last was an entrepreneur in Larbâa Nathirathen, who was kidnapped last week, the fifth business to be targeted in the region.

Wilaya’s security commission attributes abductions to terrorist group

[Al-khiyal]

Reliable sources informed El Khabar that joint security forces killed a terrorist originating from Saida. The operation happened in the area of Marine south of Sidi Belabbès province, known for its hard mountains. The terrorist was 40 years old.

“The joint security forces, who were combing the area, shot the terrorist in a confrontation with a group of terrorists. The joint security forces retrieved a machine gun from the terrorist in question”, the same sources added.

A terrorist killed in Sidi Belabbès