Algeria: June 21 blast was bomb, not accident
Cell of the same Al Qaeda-linked group that claimed Algiers attack reportedly found in Libya.
Algerian authorities said Tuesday that a June 21 blast at an electricity plant in the capital of Algiers was a
car bomb. This is the first time that the government admitted it was a terrorist attack, rather than a technical fault. And, as
Reuters AlertNet points out, it is "the first attack of its kind since the mid-1990s."
The government had originally reported that it was too early to tell whether it was an accident or an attack, despite the fact that an Al Qaeda-linked Islamist organization, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), had claimed responsibility shortly after the blast. The incident took place
one day after Algerian government announced its forces had killed Nabil Sahraoui, leader of the GSPC.
National police chief Ali Tounsi said that 500 more men would join security forces patrolling the capital. The GSPC said that the attacks proved the authorities did not have control of security in Algiers and has warned of more attacks to come.
In early June the GSPC
declared war on all foreigners in Algeria. "The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat decides ... to declare war on everything that is foreign and atheistic within Algeria's borders, whether against individuals, interests or installations," the late Mr. Sahraoui said in a statement published on an Islamic website.
The
BBC suggests that GSPC is trying to strike fear in the hearts of the public and
scare foreign investors by reminding them of the days when attacks weren't as rare.
In the mid 1990s - at the height of the civil war - bomb attacks by Islamic militants in Algeria were commonplace. But in recent years security has greatly improved.
By attacking a major energy installation in the capital, Algeria's Islamist militants hope to shake public confidence and scare away the investors the government so keenly wants.
On Monday,
The New York Times cited a French newspaper report that
Libya had discovered a GSPC camp near its border with Chad.
The newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, quoted European antiterrorism officials as saying that the camp, thought to be used by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, was near the border with Chad not far from the region where Chadian rebels are holding one of the terrorist group's most senior members, Amari Saifi, known as Al Para. The
Times reports that Mr. Saifi "received nearly $6 million in ransom from Germany for the release of kidnapped European tourists, money that he reportedly used to buy weapons and recruit fresh fighters in the desert stretching from Mauritania to Chad."
The State Department
added the group to its list of foreign terrorist groups in 2002.
Fox News reports that Al Qaeda has made "
inroads into Algeria."
A Yemeni Al Qaeda lieutenant, Emad Abdelwahid Ahmed Alwan, was killed in a September 2002 gunbattle about 270 miles east of Algiers. Authorities said he had met with Salafists and was managing operations for Al Qaeda in North Africa.
Last spring
The Guardian reported that
US troops were sent to North Africa "amid Pentagon warnings that the region runs the risk of becoming an Al Qaeda recruiting ground and a possible back door into Europe."
Units of around 200 from the US Army's 10th Special Forces Group are already installed, or are due to arrive, in Mauritania, Mali, Chad, and Niger to train their armies in anti-terrorism tactics and to improve coordination with the US military.
But, in an interview with the
Daily Star of Lebanon, George al-Rassi, an expert in North African affairs, said that "the
most important SGCC bases are in Europe, not in North Africa."
Every now and then North African authorities seize arms shipments smuggled from Spain or France to [GSPC]. The group's logistics network goes as far as London, Brussels and Paris. The [GSPC] is now moving south across the Sahara into Mali, Chad, Niger, and Mauritania, spearheading what appears to be a new thrust into Africa by Al Qaeda.
Also...
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The New York Times)
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ElBaradei sees no nuclear breakthrough on Israel trip (
Arab News)
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How does the Saudi relationship with the Bush family affect US foreign policy? (
Slate)
•
Yemen tries Al Qaeda suspects for USS Cole attack (
Reuters)
•
Terror suspects launch new legal challenge (
The Guardian)
•
Algeria may be able to make nuclear bombs(
United Press International)
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