Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for latest Algeria attacks

2008-08-22

In a new message broadcast Thursday, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for three recent attacks in Algeria that killed 68 people.

By Said Jameh for Magharebia in Algiers – 22/08/08

[Getty Images] Algerian security officers investigate the site of an August 19th bombing in Bouira. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for that attack and two others on Thursday.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility Thursday night (August 21st) for a recent string of suicide bombings in which 68 Algerians were killed.

In an audio recording broadcast on Qatari channel Aljazeera around 10:30 pm Algeria time, group spokesman Abu Mohamed Salah confirmed that the attacks came in response to operations launched by the Algerian army against the group's headquarters in Tizi Ouzou on August 8th.

A dozen al-Qaeda members were killed in the Tizi Ouzou offensive. On the tape, Salah vowed a "severe response" to any future operation by security forces.

Prior to the release of any claim of responsibility, Algerian Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni had said that the Zemmouri, Issers and Bouira attacks were a reaction to successful counter-terror operations in Algeria which killed several al-Qaeda leaders.

The first of the recent attacks targeted a Coast Guard facility in Zemmouri on August 10th, killing eight and injuring 19 more. The second, a bombing at a police recruitment station in Issers on August 19th, killed 48 and injured 45. The latest incident occurred one day later in Bouira, leaving 12 more dead and 43 injured in twin bombings at a military headquarters and a downtown hotel.

In the recorded statement, Salah identified the Zemmouri bomber as Mohamed Abu Sajda El Assemi, and the Bouira attackers as Abu Bakr El Assemi and Abdelrahman Abou Zeina al-Mauritani.

Salah threatened the media against what he described as "adopting the position of security forces", and called on the "Islamic nation" not to believe press accounts of his group targeting civilians.

The recording did not mention the letter from former GSPC leader Hassan Hattab, in which he called on al-Qaeda members to lay down their arms and return to their families and society.

The Algerian bombings indicate "a transposition of the jihad of al-Qaeda in Iraq to the Maghreb", L'Expression reported on Thursday, adding that according to senior intelligence sources, "it is the work of Algerian Islamists who fought the coalition forces in Iraq".

Citing the terrorists' "use of suicide bombers, motorcycles, explosive belts and attacks against military recruits, all coupled with a massive use of media via the Internet," L'Expression added that Droukdel, "wanting to become the Bin Laden of North Africa…has taken exactly the same steps as al-Qaeda number 2, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, against Western interests in the Maghreb".

Former defence minister and retired general Khaled Nezzar pointed out, however, that the latest al-Qaeda attacks could backfire by uniting the population against the group and increasing support for the army. In an interview with Reuters, Nezzar, one of the most powerful security figures in the country, described the strategy of suicide attacks as "self-defeating" and "barabaric".

"The would-be suicide bomber unites the target and strengthens it, so that it will thwart it by any means," he was quoted as saying. "If the suicide attack is impressive, it also demonstrates the weakness of those who use it."