Algerians unite in condemning bombings

13/04/2007

Bombings have returned to Algiers, after a decade-long lull. Analysts believe the choice of targets and timing signal al-Qaeda’s desire to make its presence felt as the country prepares for legislative elections scheduled for May 17th.

By Nazim Fethi for Magharebia in Algiers – 13/04/2007

[Getty Images] Algerian mourners carry the coffin of Roukhi Mohamed during his funeral Thursday (April 12th) held in Mahelma, 20 km west of Algiers. Mohamed was killed in Wednesday's suicide car attack on the Government Palace.

The twin bombings that shocked Algerians on Wednesday (April 11th), killing 33 and injuring 222 others, elicited unanimous condemnation from leaders on all sides of Algeria's political spectrum.

Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem said on Wednesday that the Algiers bombings were "a media stunt in the run-up to the May elections". He added that those behind the attacks, for which al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility, sought to "terrorise ordinary people" in Algeria but "they should know the Algerian people will not tolerate their methods or style because they reject violence and terrorism."

He also said that "we will not tolerate violence, wherever it comes from," and mentioned that the president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, had held an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss additional security measures to eliminate the risk of further attacks.

The al-Qaeda network was quick to claim responsibility for the attacks and put pictures of the three bombers on an Internet website. In a message entitled The Badr Conquest of the Maghreb, the group announced its intention to carry out more attacks. "We will not rest until we have liberated the whole of the Muslim world of crusaders, apostates and enemy agents and retaken our despoiled Andalusia and our desecrated Jerusalem," the statement said.

In an interview with the Algerian daily Ech-Chourouq, Hassan Hattab, founder of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), condemned the foreign-sponsored bombings and reaffirmed his commitment to national reconciliation. He said the attacks were "the work of the hardcore al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb which is trying to use a 'fait accompli' strategy to win over armed elements within the group who refuse to carry out mass killings of innocent people." Hattab founded the GSPC in 1998 after breaking with Antar Zouabri, the leader of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), when the latter ordered mass killings.

Speaking during a visit to the attack site in the Bab Ezzouar district, Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said "the number of police officers in our cities will be increased". He also assured the Algerian people that security and counter-terrorism personnel are still working actively, adding that "the group behind these attacks is isolated and now has few members".

Zerhouni commented on the group’s aims, confirming that they likely wanted to disrupt the upcoming elections. Undeterred, he stressed that "people…committed to seeking political solutions and to the idea of national reconciliation have the upper hand in our country."

The National Liberation Front (FLN) issued a statement denouncing "in the strongest possible terms…these acts of terrorism, which targeted innocent civilians." The FLN added that "even as ordinary people attack and reject them, terrorists are still trying to affirm their existence by carrying out acts of desperation. These can only serve to rally citizens to the anti-terrorist cause and to bolster defiance."

To this end, the FLN has called on citizens to show "greater vigilance in order to foil criminals and their attempts to destroy the peace and stability that have been recovered during the process of national reconciliation".