al-Qaeda has been in Algeria for at least 10 years.
B
http://news.bbc.co.uk:80/1/hi/world/africa/7142050.stm
Algeria: a new front for al-Qaeda?
By Roger Hardy
BBC Middle East analyst
Is Algeria experiencing a resurgence of the violence it suffered during the
civil war of the 1990s, or is its conflict becoming internationalised?
When a local Islamist group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
(GSPC), re-branded itself in January 2007 as "al-Qaeda in the Land of the
Islamic Maghreb", some experts were sceptical, seeing the move as tactical
opportunism.
Now they are not so sure.
Over the last year, the group has launched a string of operations, including
an attempt to assassinate Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and two
attacks in the heart of the capital, Algiers.
On 11 April, a triple suicide bombing left 33 people dead. The latest
attacks, on Tuesday, killed at least 26 people, although some officials have
said more than twice as many died.
New methodology
The method, the timing and the targets all appear to bear the hallmarks of a
group of the al-Qaeda type.
ATTACKS IN ALGERIA IN 2007
11 December: twin car bombs kill at least 26 including 10 UN staff in
Algiers
8 September: 32 die in bombing in Dellys claimed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb
6 September: 22 die in bombing in Batna claimed by al-Qaeda in Islamic
Maghreb
July: Suicide bomber targets barracks near Bouira, killing nine
May: Dozens killed in run-up to elections, in fighting between military and
militants
April: 33 killed in Algiers in attacks claimed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb
March: Three Algerians and a Russian killed in attack on gas pipeline
workers
February: Seven bombs kill six east of Algiers
The Islamists who fought the Algerian government in the 1990s used brutal
methods, but suicide car bombings were not among them.
Now they are the method of choice.
The timing of recent attacks, on the 11th day of the month, suggests the
perpetrators were paying homage to the attacks of 9/11.
And, perhaps most significant of all, one of the main targets of Tuesday's
attacks was a complex of buildings used by the United Nations.
For the groups which were active in the 1990s, it would have made no sense
to attack the UN. Their quarrel was with a military-backed regime, which
they saw as illegitimate.
But al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQLIM) holds the UN in open
contempt. It refers to it - in jihadi terminology - as a "slave of America".
Wider web
The North African group typifies the "new" al-Qaeda.
Like its counterparts in Iraq and elsewhere, it uses the al-Qaeda label but
probably has little or no operational links with Osama Bin Laden and his
movement
Experts believe it is linked nevertheless to a wider web of international
networks.
North African governments are worried that local groups in Algeria, Morocco
and Tunisia may be starting to link up under the umbrella of the new
movement.
European governments are increasingly alarmed about ties between Islamists
in North Africa and their counterparts in Europe.
Finally, there appears to be an Iraq connection. It is not just that methods
used in Iraq, such as car bombings, are being imitated elsewhere.
The Algerian authorities have recently captured a number of Islamists who
have returned home from Iraq.
If these do indeed represent a new breed of global jihadist, they may prove
to be a formidable challenge for both regional and Western governments.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
--------------------------
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: [email protected]
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/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> 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/
