Yahoo! News Back to Story - Help Al-Qaida claims responsibility for Algeria attacks
By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press WriterFri Aug 22, 8:41 AM ET The North African branch of al-Qaida claimed responsibility Friday for devastating bombings in Algeria that killed up to 60 people this week, in a statement carried by an Arab TV news station. The group described the attacks on a police academy, a military barracks and a Canadian engineering firm as retaliation against security forces for their crackdown on militants, described as "Mujahedeen," or holy warriors. The attacks "follow the perfidious operation, where a number of young Mujahedeen have been killed," said a man identified as Salah Abu Mohammed, an al-Qaida spokesman, in a tape delivered to the Al-Jazeera news channel. There was no way to authenticate Friday's message but in the past militant groups have often delivered responsibility claims via Al-Jazeera. Up to 60 people were killed in the attacks carried out in less than 24 hours. On Tuesday, a suicide bomber rammed a car full of explosives into a line of applicants waiting to register at a police academy, killing at least 43 in the town of Les Issers, some 35 miles east of the capital, Algiers. At dawn the next day, twin car bombs targeted a military headquarters and a passenger bus in the neighboring town of Bouira, 55 miles southeast of Algiers. The twelve killed in Bouira were employees of a Canadian engineering firm. Security and hospital officials say another five have since died of their injuries from the attacks. The audio tape stated the attack in Bouira was conducted by a man named Abdel Rahman Abu Zenib al-Muritani, or "the Mauritanian." Abu Mohammed, the al-Qaida spokesman, said in the statement that his group does not target civilians — only government security forces and foreign interests in Algeria. He said the attacks this week were in retaliation to a police sweep in the region of Tizi-Ouzou, southeast of Algiers, where authorities said earlier this month they killed a dozen militants hiding in the hills. The militants killed in Tizi-Ouzou were in a car "packed with explosives" that was set off by remote control by security forces, Abu Mohammed said. Authorities have not commented on this and such allegations could not be independently verified. The militants' retaliation ended on Thursday, Abu Mohammed said. Algerian government officials insist terrorists indiscriminately target civilians. They said this week the attacks showed extremists were cornered by security forces in a zone known as "the deadly rectangle," which runs in a hilly coastal area east of Algiers to Bouira, Tizi-Ouzou and Boumerdes. The government and militant groups have been battling for the hearts and minds of Algerians ever since a near-civil war killed up to 200,000 people in the 1990's. At the time, violence broke out when the secular-leaning army canceled elections an Islamist party was expected to win. Though atrocities were committed on both sides, Islamic militant groups eventually lost the support of the population because they were blamed for widespread massacres. Algeria's present al-Qaida offshoot is known as Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa. It grew out of the GSPC, the last extremist group left over from the bloody civil war, which joined Osama bin Laden's network in September 2006. Violence has steadily risen since then in this North African country of 34 million. This month alone, more than 70 people have been killed in six major terrorist attacks. ____ Associated Press Writer Paul Schemm contributed to this report in Cairo, Egypt. Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Copyright © 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Questions or Comments Privacy Policy -Terms of Service - Copyright/IP Policy --------------- Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com ------------------------------------ Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/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/
