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Africa North

Mauritania: Weapons seized from al-Qaida-linked group

2008-06-03

Authorities in Mauritania say they have seized a large quantity of weapons believed to belong to an al-Qaida-linked group. Security chief Mohamed Lemine Ould Ahmed says police seized the weapons in early May using information given by suspected terrorists arrested in sting operations in April. Ahmed refused to detail quantities, but he said Monday that it was enough to "destroy whole neighborhoods of Mauritania's capital." He said the arms included bombs, detonators, guns, ammunition and suicide vests. Ahmed said these arms were in addition to those found during the arrests. Those arrested are suspected of belonging to an alleged terror cell called al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa.

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Terror Networks

Report: Kidnappers of Austrian tourists demand withdrawal of country's troops from Afghanistan

2008-04-01

Austrian radio reported Monday that Islamist militants holding two Austrian tourists in North Africa have made new demands for their release. The report, which did not cite any sources, said the hostage-takers want the withdrawal from Afghanistan of Austria's four soldiers, who are part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force. The report also said the kidnappers are demanding the release of a couple recently convicted in Vienna of involvement in a March 2007 video threatening Austria and Germany with attacks. Foreign Ministry spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal declined comment on the report. Last week, al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, which says it kidnapped Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber in February, said the pair would be freed only if several of its members were released from Algerian and Tunisian prisons by April 6. The couple disappeared in Tunisia. The report Monday also seemed to suggest that the hostage-takers were demanding a ransom and had increased the requested amount. Reports about a ransom have circulated for some time. Launsky-Tieffenthal said the ministry was not aware of a ransom demand.

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Africa North

Al-Qaida's branch posts photos of kidnapped Austrians

2008-03-15

Al-Qaida's branch for North Africa posted a new Internet statement Thursday, setting conditions and giving a three-day deadline for the release of two Austrian tourists it claimed to have kidnapped in Tunisia last month. In the statement -- which included six photographs purportedly showing Austrians Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber -- al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa said it would set the two free if some of the group's members were released from jails in Tunisia and Algeria. The posting gave Austrian authorities three days, starting Thursday midnight, to comply. "Austria is responsible for the lives of the two hostages in the event of the expiration of the time period and not responding to our demands," it said and urged families of the two Austrians to pressure their government to meet the group's demands and "save the lives of the two tourists." The woman in the photographs, said to be Kloiber, was shown wearing a blue headscarf and her face was obscured. According to extremist Islamist beliefs, showing a woman's face in public and in images is prohibited as un-Islamic. Both she and the man, who had a graying mustache and a short beard, were wearing traditional Arab robes. The pair were surrounded by hard boyz militants with rocket propelled grenade launchers, some masked, seated on the ground in an open, desert area with some bush vegetation. A white pickup truck was also seen in the photos. The statement also said the Austrian government has been informed of the mujahideens' demands and that they had handed over to unnamed "negotiators" the list of names of their detained members who should be released from jails. There were no details on how many were on the list. On Monday, the al-Qaida branch first said in an audio recording that it was behind the Feb. 22 kidnapping of the two Austrian tourists, saying it was an act of retribution for Western cooperation with Israel. The audio statement claimed the hostages were in good health. U.S.-based SITE group, which tracks militant messaging, said it had also intercepted the al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa statement Thursday.

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Africa North

Suspects behind U.N. office bombing, other terror attacks in Algeria in pre-trial hearing

2008-02-07

Six suspects appeared before an investigating judge on Wednesday over deadly twin truck bombings in December at a U.N. office and a government building in Algiers, the Interior Ministry said. The ministry also said the suspected ringleader behind the attacks, identified as Bouzegza Abderahmane, was killed during a Jan. 28 sweep by security forces in Souk el-Had, a section of the Boumerdes region east of the capital. Security concerns have been high in Algeria since the Dec. 11 suicide bombings struck U.N. offices and the Constitutional Council building, killing at least 37 people — including 17 U.N. workers. The dual attacks were the most serious in a recent wave of violence signaling that Islamic fighters are regrouping in the North African country. An al-Qaida affiliate in Algeria has claimed responsibility. The ministry, which identified the six only by their first initials and surnames, said they were computer expert F. Yacine; real estate agent K. Ahmed; delivery man B. Amine, and three business owners: B. Fouad, K. Youcef and M. Mustapha. The ministry did not say what the next step in the prosecution would be, nor did it specify when the six had been detained. Abderahmane, known better as the "emir" Bouzegza, was said to be a highly sought target by Algerian authorities — and the subject of 43 search domestic warrants over the last decade. He was believed to be a leader of the El-Farouk brigade, a wing of al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa — the new name of a longtime insurgent group in Algeria. The ministry said El-Farouk was also behind a Dec. 10 attack on two vehicles carrying employees of an affiliate of U.S. company Halliburton near Algiers, killing an Algerian driver and injuring nine others. "All the bombings recently committed recently in the Algiers area have been elucidated," said Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, quoted by the official news agency APS. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called in December for an independent panel to investigate the twin bombings. The Algerian government has opposed a U.N. investigation, saying it was already investigating the attacks.

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Africa North

Algeria: Group Behind UN Bomb Dismantled

2008-02-01

Algerian security services have dismantled the terror group behind a pair of suicide bombings that killed 37 people, including 17 U.N. workers, Algeria's interior minister said Thursday. The Dec. 11 bombings struck U.N. offices and a government building in the Algerian capital, Algiers. They were the most serious of a recent wave of attacks signaling that Islamic fighters are regrouping in the North African country. Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni told The Associated Press that two suspects in the suicide attacks were killed and another two arrested. He did not give details. "Security services on Monday dismantled the network that organized and planted the bombs at the headquarters of the Constitutional Council and U.N. headquarters in Algiers," he said on the sidelines of a meeting in Tunisia of ministers from Arab countries. The Algerian daily el-Watan, citing security officials, reported Tuesday that police had arrested four people in Boumerdes, east of Algiers, who were allegedly involved in planning the bombings. They were said to be preparing a new Algiers attack. The newspaper also said a man described as a leader of the group in the Algiers area had been killed in an ambush. Al-Qaida's North African affiliate claimed responsibility for the December bombings. The attacks raised concerns that al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa is intent on reviving a low-simmering insurgency that has wracked Algeria since 1992.

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Africa Subsaharan

Dakar Rally canceled after Terror Threat

2008-01-04

The annual Dakar Rally was canceled Friday on the eve of the race across the Sahara Desert because of terror threats and the recent killings of a French family in Mauritania blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants. It was the first time in the 30-year history of the automobile, motorbike and truck race that it has been called off. In a statement, organizers blamed international tensions, the tourists' Dec. 24 murders and "threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organizations." The race's central appeal — its course through African deserts, scrubland and savannas — is also its weak point, making it difficult to protect thousands of people as they cross remote regions. "No other decision but the cancellation of the sporting event could be taken," organizers said. France, where the race organizers are based, had urged the rally to avoid Mauritania after the four family members were killed in an attack blamed on a terror cell that uses the Mauritanian desert as a hideout. Officials say the cell is linked to the Algeria-based al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, which has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks, including the Dec. 11 twin suicide bombings at U.N. offices and a government building in Algiers, which killed at least 37 people. Only the father of the slain family survived the Dec. 24 attack, in a town 150 miles east of the Mauritanian capital as the family picnicked on the side of a road. That attack was followed up be another four days later, when three Mauritanian soldiers manning a checkpoint were killed. Mauritania is a largely peaceful Islamic republic that has been rocked by the back-to-back attacks. Authorities have blamed a terror "sleeper cell" linked to the Algeria-based al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa for the murders of the family. Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for the killing of the soldiers. Mauritania's police force has been tracking the killers of the four tourists, recovering the car they used and arresting a woman who allegedly helped them secure a boat to cross into neighboring Senegal. Full report at link.

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Africa North

Algeria Car Bomb Kills 4 Police Officers

2008-01-02

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - A car bomb exploded near a police station in a town east of the Algerian capital Wednesday, killing at least four officers and ripping off the building's facade, witnesses said. The blast followed twin suicide bombings on Dec. 11 at U.N. offices and a government building that killed at least 37 people in the capital of Algiers. A journalist and another resident in the city of Naciria said the car sped toward the police station and exploded. The Interior Ministry said the attack killed at least four police officers and injured 20, including eight police officers. The ministry provided no details other than to say that the bombing was near the police station in the town about 45 miles east of Algiers. The explosion tore off the front of the police station and damaged neighboring buildings. Security forces cordoned off the rubble-strewn ruins. The suicide bombings in December and others in April were claimed by al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, which emerged out of an alliance between Osama bin Laden's international terror network and a local Islamic insurgency movement known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. Security forces have been on maximum alert since earlier this week, after three trucks were stolen in the Algiers region, the newspaper Liberte reported Wednesday. The vehicles included a fuel tanker, and officials fear they might be used in suicide attacks, the report said. Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa has increasingly used vehicles packed with explosives to deliver its strikes. In July, a suicide bomber blew up a truck inside a military barracks southeast of Algiers, killing 10 soldiers. Two months later, at least 28 people died after an explosives-packed vehicle rammed into a coast guard barracks in the northern town of Dellys. Meanwhile Wednesday, Le Soir newspaper said security forces have detained the mastermind behind the April 11 attacks that hit the Algerian prime minister's office and a police station, killing 33 people. Police picked up the 28-year-old suspect at his Algiers home overnight Saturday, the report cited an unidentified security official as saying. The official said the suspect chose the targets, recruited the suicide bombers and bought the substances used to make the explosives. It was not clear whether he was implicated in any other attacks, the newspaper said. Officials with national security forces declined to comment on the report.

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Europe

France Detains Five Men In Connection With Algeria Bombing

2007-12-21

Five men are being held by French authorities in connection with last week's bombing of U.N. offices in Algeria. The men are suspected of giving logistical support to al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa. The terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the twin truck bombings of the U.N. offices and an Algerian government building. The attacks left at least 37 people dead. The suspects were rounded up in France on Tuesday. An official says three other men were also detained and later released. The men are described as North African and French. A French newspaper reports they have been under surveillance for months. Police say there's nothing to suggest that they had any direct involvement in the December 11th bombings and they're not suspected of planning any attacks in France.

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Africa North

Al-Qaida wing for N. Africa claims Algiers blasts

2007-12-12

The North African branch of al-Qaida said in an Internet posting it was behind the bombings in the Algerian capital on Tuesday, claiming also that 110 people were killed in the attacks carried out by two suicide bombers. Two "martyrs" of al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa drove cars loaded with 800 kilograms of explosives each "to attack the headquarters of the international infidels' den" and the headquarters of the Algerian constitutional council. A statement posted on a militant Web site said two "martyrs" of al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa drove cars loaded with 800 kilograms of explosives each "to attack the headquarters of the international infidels' den" and the headquarters of the Algerian constitutional council. Algerian authorities said that at least 26 people, including as many as five UN employees, were killed in the vehicle blasts, minutes apart, that sheared the facades off UN offices and a government building in Algiers, the Algerian capital. Some 177 people were wounded, officials said. "This is another successful conquest ... carried out by the Knights of the Faith with their blood in defense of the wounded nation of Islam," said the militant statement. The group said the attack honored one of its key operatives, Sufyan Abu Haidra, who had been killed in fighting Algerian troops. The militant statement also said the attack preceded the holy Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the feast of Sacrifice, later this month. "On the eve of Eid we are heralding to the Muslim nation the good news of two operations carried out by two martyrs," it said. The group identified the suicide bombers as Ibrahim Abu Othman, who attacked the UN building, and Abdel-Rahman Abu Abdel-Nasser al-Assimi, who attacked the constitutional council building. The al-Qaida statement said 60 people were killed in the first attack and 50 in the second. "The conquest comes to remind the Crusaders who are occupying our land and the plunderers of our wealth that they should listen carefully to the demands and speeches of our sheik ... Osama bin laden, God protect him," it concluded. Al-Qaida has called for attacks on French and Spanish interests in North Africa. Bin Laden's chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, called in September for jihad in North Africa to "cleanse (it) of the children of France and Spain."

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Africa North

US Treasury moves against leader of militant group in Algeria

2007-12-05

The United States on Tuesday imposed financial sanctions on the leader of a militant group based in Algeria. The Treasury Department's action is against Abdelmalek Droukdel, identified as the leader of al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, which has carried out deadly bombings. Any bank accounts or other financial assets found in the United States belonging to Droukdel must be frozen. Americans also are forbidden from doing business with him. "Droukdel has supervised and ordered deadly terrorist attacks against innocents," said Adam Szubin, director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers and enforces the government's financial sanctions programs. Treasury alleged that Droukdel supervised bombings in April of the prime minister's office and police facilities in Algiers. Droukdel used an Internet video that talked about the bombings and urged people to become suicide bombers, the department said. The government alleged he ordered the Dec. 2006 attack on a U.S. company's bus in Algiers that killed one person and wounded others. The government also alleged Droukdel ordered the March 2006 assassination of a former leader of the group who had surrendered to Algerian authorities. The government says Droukdel assumed leadership of al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa in the middle of 2004. How long have we known about this guy, and why does it take (apparently) a year to ban someone like this? Just asking, perhaps a Rantburger will know the answer.

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Africa North

Mauritania arrests 7 men suspected of terrorism

2007-10-18

Authorities in Mauritania have arrested seven people suspected of being members of an al-Qaida group operating in northwestern Africa that was allegedly plotting attacks on Western targets here, security officials said Wednesday. The seven men allegedly belong to al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, an Algerian group affiliated with Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, a senior security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The seven were arrested this week in different parts of Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott, after tips from an unidentified country in the region where the men had previously traveled, said the official, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak publicly to the press. The men, all Mauritanian citizens, have yet to be charged and are being interrogated, the official said. He did not give details on the nature of the alleged plots.

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Africa North

Car Boom at Algeria Barracks Kills 28

2007-09-08

A booby-trapped car exploded at a barracks housing coast guard officials on Saturday, killing at least 28 people in Algeria's second terror attack this week, hospital officials said. The explosion ripped through the northern coastal town of Dellys, about 30 miles from Algiers, as the local coast guard was taking part in the morning flag-raising ceremony. All the victims were coast guard officials, who are part of Algeria's armed forces, hospital officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. Dozens more were injured. Recent bombings in Algeria have generated fears of a return to the mass-scale violence of the 1990s, when Algeria's Islamic insurgency peaked. The country, a U.S. ally against terrorism, has been trying to move past the 15-year insurgency that killed 200,000 people. Until recently, its efforts appeared mostly successful. The attack came just two days after another bombing killed at least 22 in a crowd of people in eastern Algeria who were waiting to see visiting President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has devoted his eight years in office to ending the insurgency. There was widespread speculation that Bouteflika was the intended target of that attack, though Algerian officials kept silent on the question. Police said the bomber was killed by security services after he dropped the explosives and tried to escape. There was no immediate claim of responsibility in either attack. However, an al-Qaida affiliate calling itself al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa has been active in Algeria lately. On Friday, Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni warned terrorists that they have "one choice: turn themselves in, or die."

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