Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for recent bombings in Algeria

2008-08-07

Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for two recent suicide bombings in Lakhdaria and Tizi Ouzou. Algeria's Interior Ministry says it has identified the suicide bomber in the second attack.

By Said Jameh for Magharebia in Algiers – 07/08/08

[Said Jameh] Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for the August 3rd car bombing in Tizi Ouzou, and for a motorcycle attack on a military convoy in July.

In an internet message posted on Wednesday (August 6th), al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for two recent suicide attacks in Lakhdaria and Tizi Ouzou.

A July 23rd attack by a suicide bomber driving a motorcycle targeted a military convoy in Lakhdaria. On August 3rd, a car bomb exploded near a police station and military barracks in Tizi Ouzou, destroying a dozen cars and causing damage to a number of nearby buildings.

AQIM claimed that the two operations killed 38 policemen and army soldiers, and accused Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni of deceiving the public by providing a false death toll.

Zerhouni had announced earlier that the attacks killed only the suicide bombers themselves. According to the minister, the Lakhdaria bombing injured 13 soldiers and the Tizi Ouzou blast injured 25 people, including four policemen.

AQIM said in its statement that the vehicle used in the August 3rd attack was carrying 600kg of explosives.

The terrorist group also posted a photo of Makhlouf Abou-Mariam, the perpetrator of the Tizi Ouzou attack, "carrying two light weapons, most likely a pistol and a hand grenade, while being flanked by three Kalashnikovs."

On Wednesday, the interior ministry confirmed the suicide bomber's identity as Sahari Makhlouf, alias Abou Meriem, Houdaifa and Ayoub.

The ministry said Makhlouf is well known to Algeria's security services, and that since June 2nd, 2007 his photo had been extensively circulated as a wanted dangerous terrorist.

The ministry added it was likely that Makhlouf had been used to carry out the suicide operation in Tizi Ouzou because he suffered from psychological disorders.

"A short time ago, this terrorist suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of a dangerous disease in his lower limbs," the ministry said. "Apparently, his health condition was exploited in order to carry out this suicide attack."

Liberté cited security sources on August 5th as saying they have "found the gas pedal in the car that carried out the operation with the suicidal bomber's leg tied to it."

This information reportedly gave security authorities the impression that Makhlouf had been forced to carry out the operation.

The newspaper added that another car carrying three terrorists had been watching the suicide bomber.

Makhlouf Abou-Mariam was born October 24th, 1973 in Kouba, a working-class neighbourhood in the southern suburbs of Algiers. Early last year he reportedly replaced Ghazi Taoufik, alias Al Tahir, as leader of the Annour battalion in Tizi Ouzou.

The Interior Ministry said Makhlouf was behind a number of attacks in Tizi Ouzou province and that he was one of the masterminds of the bombings that targeted the headquarters of the Constitutional Court and the office of the UNHCR on December 11th, 2007.