Algeria makes headway in fight against terror

2007-08-03

Events have taken a critical turn in Algeria's struggle against terror. On July 30th security forces killed the mastermind behind the attacks of April 11th and July 11th, while the leader of Zone 9 in the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has laid down his arms.

By Hayam El Hadi for Magharebia in Algiers – 03/08/2007

[Getty Images] Algerians shout anti-terrorism slogans during a protest against the April 11th terror attacks.

Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has suffered a crippling blow, losing two key figures in less than a fortnight. A July 30th ambush by security services killed 34-year-old Sid Ali Rachid, nicknamed Ali Dix, the mastermind behind the April 11th terror attacks that targeted government buildings in Algiers and the July 11th attack on an army barracks in Lakhdaria. Algerian forces conducted the ambush in the region of Iboudrarene (Tizi Ouzou province) with the help of locals, who gave them valuable information on the movements of terrorist groups.

With the elimination of Ali Dix, the GSPC, which changed its name to al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, is now bereft of the man who overhauled the organisation's operational strategy, namely by introducing suicide attacks of a style previously unknown in Algeria. According to the official APS news agency, he introduced a technique enabling terrorists to remotely detonate booby-trapped cars, and oversaw operations from beginning to end. It was he who selected the target and identified the person responsible for carrying out the attack and the person who would document it on film. His elimination is being regarded in Algiers as the beginning of the end for a terrorist group which is in its death throes but still capable of causing damage.

Much of the information on the GSPC's internal crisis came from disclosures made by Benmessaoud Abdelkader, known as Abou Mossaab, the GSPC's emir in Zone 9. A security official told Magharebia that Abou Mossaab, after turning himself in to law enforcement authorities in July, spoke of the GSPC as an isolated organisation with no logistical capacity and undermined from within. The cause of this dissent was the unilateral decision the group's leader, Abdelmalek Droukdel, took to swear allegiance to al-Qaeda.

Mossaab, who had previously joined the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), later created the GSPC together with Hassan Hattab. He took part in numerous attacks such as the ambush on customs officers in the southern region of Naama. Mossaab's surrender is a boon for the law enforcement authorities who plan to employ him as a go-between to persuade his former comrades to lay down their weapons. This technique has been widely used since the implementation of the national reconciliation policy.

The policy has not, however, stopped Algerian officials from taking a firm stance against active terrorists. In a speech on July 5th, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika clearly restated his determination to wage war on terrorism. "We must consolidate peace," he said, "and our first task is to continue our fight against criminal and terrorist gangs of people who, by rejecting the gracious call issued by our nation, have resolutely declared themselves to be enemies of the people and seek to subvert the progress of national reform and cohesion."

His determination was welcomed by Mohamed Bendali, a 33-year-old translator still reeling from the shock of the April 11th attacks. He commented that "the state must not forgive killers who have ignored the opportunity which has been offered them. We can't expect them all to give themselves up when they're still killing people."

On the ground, law enforcement agencies have heightened their vigilance and are now on the trail of terrorist groups entrenched in the forest of Yakouren in Kabylia.