Reports of the demise of Muslim terrorists clearly premature.
Bruce 18 killed in ambush of Algerian Army patrol By Agence France Presse (AFP) Compiled by Daily Star staff Thursday, January 06, 2005 ALGIERS: Islamic extremists killed 18 people when they ambushed an army convoy south of the capital Algiers, the daily newspaper L'Expression reported Wednesday. The report comes a day after the Algerian government announced the GIA has been virtually wiped out after security forces killed and arrested its top members. The daily said some 50 extremists used a bomb to blow up the convoy and then raked it with machine-gun fire, killing 13 soldiers and five civilians who were traveling with them. The paper said the rebels, said to be from Algeria's extremist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), were later surrounded by security forces. The GSPC has become the only organized extremist group still operating in the country following the demise of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), once considered the deadliest radical movement fighting secular authorities. The GSPC ambush took place in the early hours of Monday in a remote area in the region of Biskra, some 420 kilometers south of the capital, the paper said. Some of the soldiers were able to fire back, reportedly wounding some of the assailants. The attack was the deadliest in Algeria since 16 people were murdered more than three months ago in the region of Medea, also south of Algiers. The GSPC has become the principal extremist group in Algeria's Islamist rebellion that has left some 150,000 people dead since 1992. It was allegedly founded on the instructions of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The group was linked to the kidnapping last year of 32 European tourists, most of them Germans, in southern Algeria. Observers believe the GSPC group was backed by militants from other regions and is headed by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who security forces say recently returned to Algeria after going into hiding in neighboring Mali. L'Expression said following the arrest in October of the radical group's number two leader, Amari Saifi, who was handed over by Libya, Belmokhtar has rallied hard-line members of the GSPC who have managed to survive in the south of the country thanks to contraband and drug traffickers. Authorities estimate the GSPC has up to 500 members. - AFP http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id= 11573 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
