Results tagged “Algeria”
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One of 12 terrorists killed by security forces in operations on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25 was the al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb emir for the town of Bordj Menaïel in Boumerdès province. Security forces arrested two men who had been recruited by the al Qaeda-linked Signed in Blood Battalion to spy on the Id Amenas facility before it was attacked. A longtime terrorist named Aboul-Abbas was sentenced to life in prison.
Algerian troops killed four terrorists in Boukaal Medajadji in Chlef, and eight more in Timezrit in Boumerdès; three of the dead were wanted criminals. Bombs were defused and weapons were confiscated during the two operations.
The Interior Ministry refused to license the Free Awakening Front, the country's first Salafist party, which had sought to hold its founding convention on Feb. 16. The Id Amenas gas facility, the site of last month's terrorist assault, will partially reopen starting next week.
US and Algerian officials met in Algiers and agreed to cooperate in preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear materials and illicit weapons. The officials are concerned that nuclear stocks from the Gaddafi regime are "within the reach of armed Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb groups."
The military killed two terrorists in Ihnouchène near Tisi Ouzou on Feb. 11. The day before, an armed group tried to kidnap a trader in Ihessnaouen, south of Tizi-Ouzou, and shot the trader's mother after he fled.
The Algiers Criminal Court postponed the case of 48 suspected terrorists, including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb emir Abdelmalek Droukdel and the leader of al Ansar battalion "B.A." The defendants face charges related to "more than 20 collective massacres" and other terrorist acts. Security forces arrested 10 members of a weapons trafficking network in El Bahadh.
Algerian troops intercepted two al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb suicide bombers in Tinzouatine near the Malian border. The men, an Algerian and a Malian, had explosive belts and automatic weapons at the time of their arrest.
Algeria captured four heavily armed militants near its border with Mali. Al Qaeda fighters have tried to cross the border after a French offensive drove them from Mali's northern cities.
Algerian warplanes and attack helicopters repelled a three-hour coordinated assault on an army barracks by some 50 militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades. Two militants died in the assault and six soldiers were wounded; one militant was captured. Many of the attackers were Tunisian and Libyan and carried Libyan weapons.
Foreign Minister Medelci claimed that the Algerian diplomats held hostage in Mali by the Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa are "in a safe place." The army has beefed up security along its border with Mali in an attempt to prevent fleeing militants from entering Algeria.
The UK and Algeria agreed to strengthen their strategic partnership by sharing intelligence and cooperating in counterterrorism. The Islamic Front of Justice and Development party questioned the government about opening its airspace to foreign warplanes for the military intervention in Mali. The Id Amenas gas facility is set to reopen in a month at one-third capacity.
Acting on information from an al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb terrorist arrested in December 2012, authorities broke up an al Qaeda support cell in the Tiaret region on Monday; four men and three women, including a physician, were arrested. Five such cells have been dismantled in the province since September 2012.
Three security guards were killed when "terrorists" attacked a camp at a gas pipeline in Djebahia. Al Qaeda's El Farouk Brigade is accused of carrying out the attack.
Armed Islamists attacked a gas pipeline at Djebahia in the Bouira region, killing two guards and wounding five more before fleeing. Security forces launched a search of the area, near the Kabylie mountain refuge of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Captured Tunisian terrorist Abu Talha Tounsi told investigators that the attack on the Id Amenas gas facility was facilitated with logistical help from Islamists in Mali and Libya, and Egyptian Abu Bakr. Former BP driver 'Al Mandjal' guided the attackers to the facility; authorities are looking for him.
An Algiers court postponed the trial of former al Qaeda emir Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who claimed the recent assault on the Id Amenas gas field. He and nine other defendants, including Abu Zeid, whose forces seized the Malian town of Diabaly, will be tried in absentia in March. The African Union is considering training extra forces to combat Islamist terror threats, expanding counterterrorism laws, and improving information-sharing between governments.
Libyan Islamists are said to have helped the terrorist team that took over the Id Amenas refinery last week. A spokesman for the al Qaeda-linked group that mounted the attack said it was considered "successful by all standards." The commander of one of the two terrorist assault teams, Abu al-Bara'a al-Jaza'iri, may have survived.
Prime Minister Sellal said 37 foreigners from eight countries died in the siege at In Amenas; five hostages are missing. The al Qaeda-linked attackers were from Egypt, Canada, Mali, Niger, Mauritania, and Tunisia. A Canadian named Chedad coordinated the attack; another Canadian participated, as did a former driver at the gas facility. A French jihadist may also have participated. Algerian forces killed 29 militants and captured three, and "a few" may have escaped. Three American hostages were killed. The US had rejected an offer to swap hostages for two terrorists held in US prisons, "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman and "Lady al Qaeda" Aafia Siddiqui.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the emir of the Those who sign with Blood Brigade, claimed credit for the suicide assault on the In Amenas gas facility under al Qaeda's banner. At least 48 hostages have been killed, and the death toll is expected to rise. Six jihadists have been captured. The overall death toll from the siege has risen to 81.
Algerian forces stormed the In Amenas gas facility after jihadists from the 'Those who Sign with Blood Brigade' executed seven hostages. The facility is said to be under Algerian control. An estimated 30 hostages are said to be unaccounted for.
