Algeria hit by surge in guerrilla violence

[Al-khiyal]

Bomb in Algeria kills 2 rebels planting it

A bomb has exploded east of Algeria's capital, killing two Islamic militants who were trying to place it at a roadway crossing, officials say.

Several others were injured in the blast after the armed insurgents buried one remote-controlled bomb in the ground and prepared to lay another near the town of Baghlia, security forces said.

The men killed were identified only as 24-year-olds from the region, the officials said.

The militants injured in the blast fled the scene...

Homemade bomb kills Islamic militants

[Al-khiyal]

Jeudi 15 Mars 2007 -- Dans la nuit de lundi dernier, vers 21h30, un groupe terroriste, dont le nombre n’a pas été déterminé, avait tenté de poser deux bombes sur la RN25 (Baghlia- Tadmaït). L’une des bombes a explosé entre les mains des terroristes. Bilan : deux criminels sont morts sur le coup. Ils ont été identifiés par les service de sécurité qui ont été alertés le lendemain. Il s’agit, selon nos sources, de K. Hocine, 25 ans, dont le père a été abattu par les service de sécurité.

Krim est le nom du second terroriste. Ils sont originaires du même village de la commune de Baghlia, wilaya de Boumerdès. Lors de l’opération de ratissage des services de sécurité, la seconde bombe a été désamorcée et deux kalachnikovs ont été récupérés. Selon toute probabilité, d’autres terroristes de ce groupe auraient été atteints. Ils ont été évacués par leurs complices.

Deux terroristes tués par leur propre bombe

[Al-khiyal]

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika played down recent rebel attacks on the key energy sector, claiming in remarks published today that the security situation was under control.

"The phenomenon of terrorism is retreating. Security among companies in the oil sector is complete, as it is in other sectors," he said in an interview with Spanish newspaper ABC.

Islamist rebels, stepping up a campaign of bombings, have attacked foreigners working in the oil and gas exporting nation's lifeline energy sector twice in the last three months.

In the first attack, on 10 December, insurgents set off a roadside bomb on the outskirts of Algiers beside a bus carrying Western oil workers, including Americans and Britons, killing an Algerian and a Lebanese and wounding four others.

The second attack, on 3 March, 130 kilometres south-west of Algiers, on a bus carrying workers for a Russian gas pipeline construction company, killed three Algerians and a Russian.

"Foreigners work in Algeria with complete normality. Evidently, we will continue to combat terrorist groups who occasionally appear in some regions with the utmost firmness," Bouteflika added.

The attacks were claimed by the al Qaeda Organisation of the Islamic Maghreb, a group of Algerian Islamist rebels formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching & Combat (GSPC) who adopted the new name in January to deepen ties to al Qaeda.

The attacks on foreigners, plus a spate of other bombings in urban areas, have been a marked change from the GSPC's habitual small-scale kidnappings, ambushes, fake roadblocks and assassinations in remote rural areas.

Algeria shrugs off oil attacks

[Al-khiyal]

....Maghreb states are stepping up security cooperation to try to stifle apparent attempts by the region's Islamist groups to coordinate attacks on targets in both North Africa and Europe.

Asked about fears expressed by Western countries about rebel attacks in the Maghreb and Africa's Sahel region, Bouteflika replied: "No region in the world can escape the terrorist threat. We have to be more vigilant than ever, without showing exaggerated alarm."

Founded in 1998, the GSPC began as an offshoot of another armed group that was waging an armed revolt against the government to establish an Islamic state.

The GSPC shared the overall aims of that revolt, which began in 1992 after the then military-backed authorities, fearing an Iran-style revolution, scrapped a parliamentary election that an Islamist political party was set to win.

Algeria's president plays down rebel attacks

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS, Algeria: Three men who plotted an attack on the offices of a power station in Algeria after they tried but failed to join the insurgency in Iraq were handed jail terms ranging from three to five years, the official APS news agency reported.

The sentences were handed down Thursday night. The three were tried on terrorism and explosives charges. APS said the three denied links to terror groups and they claimed that they had been tortured to give statements.

APS did not give their names.

The three joined an Algerian terror group after their attempt to reach Iraq through Syria in 2006, APS reported.

It said they plotted to blow up the administrative offices of the Baraki power station in the suburbs of the capital, Algiers, that same year.

The prosecution sought life imprisonment for the three. Their defense said there was no evidence against the accused other than statements that they said were made under duress.

The Algiers court also handed 20-year jail terms to two people, tried in absentia, for belonging to a terrorist group. The two are on the run.

Three sentenced for plotting power station attack

[Al-khiyal]

Samedi 17 Mars 2007 -- Dans la nuit de mardi à mercredi, les forces de l’ANP agissant sur renseignements concordants faisant état de la présence de terroristes activant dans le lieudit Oued-El-Onk, localité de Soukiesse à 35 km au sud de la commune de Bir-El-Ater sont entrées en accrochage avec les éléments de la horde sanguinaire qui ont réussi à prendre la fuite.

Blessé, un terroriste a été neutralisé et abattu. A noter que le périmètre de cette localité a été toujours le fief de la barbarie terroriste - Oum-El-Kamakem - Djebel Labiod et Boudakhène, constituent les points chauds et la recrudescence d’opérations terroristes meurtrières dont le dernier acte horrible a vu l’égorgement d’un officier de l’ANP en retraite par les griffes de la horde sanguinaire qui s’est emparée d’un cheptel de 300 têtes.

Un terroriste abattu à Bir-El-Ater

[Al-khiyal]

Samedi 17 Mars 2007 -- Des éléments de l’ANP ont grièvement blessé par balle un citoyen dans la région d’Adekar, plus précisément au lieudit Bourbaâtach dans la nuit de jeudi, a-t-on appris de sources sûres.

La patrouille de l’armée en cantonnement dans la région dans le cadre de la lutte antiterroriste qui effectuait une ronde dans les environs aurait aperçu la victime vers trois heures du matin dans l’un de ses champs et croyant avoir en face d’eux un élément des groupes armés, les soldats auraient tiré, a précisé notre source. Grièvement atteinte, la victime, d’un âge avancé, a été immédiatement évacuée à l’hôpital Khellil-Amrane de Béjaïa et se trouverait hors de danger, indique encore notre source. Une enquête a été ouverte par le commandement militaire de Béjaïa pour éclaircir l’affaire.

Une patrouille de l'ANP blesse grièvement un citoyen à Adekar