| Africa North |
| Algerian Sweep Kills 25 Suspected Islamists |
| 2015-05-21 |
| [AnNahar] Algerian soldiers rubbed out three Islamist The ministry said "three terrorists" armed with automatic weapons were killed. Twenty-two armed Islamists were killed on Tuesday, the first day of a vast operation in the mountainous Ferkioua area of Bouira province, according to the ministry. It said automatic weapons, ammunition and other weaponry were seized. A security source told AFP the army was keeping up the operation "to neutralize other members of the gang". The sweep was launched on the back of information of a large group of ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... jihadist group that beheaded a French tourist in September. A judicial source said experts were trying to determine if the dead Jund al-Khilafa Its leader Abdelmalik Gouri was killed in an army operation last December in Issers, 60 kilometers (35 miles) east of the capital. The army says it has now killed 59 armed Islamists since the start of this year. Islamist-linked violence rocked Algeria in the 1990s but has since waned, although gangs remain active in central and eastern Algeria where they mount attacks on security forces. |
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| Africa North |
| Morocco Arrests Alleged Algerian Jihadist |
| 2015-01-27 |
[AnNahar] Moroccan authorities have tossed in the slammerYouse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! an Algerian national thought to be a member of Jund al-Khilafa, a jihadist group responsible for the September beheading of a French tourist, authorities said Sunday. The operation was carried out by police near the border town of Ahfir, about 30 kilometers north of Oujda, according to a statement from the Interior Ministry, which did not give a date for the arrest. The Algerian national, whose identity was not revealed, was "in possession of large quantities of dangerous substances" and his arrest also led to the discovery of firearms, it said. "The suspect was accompanied by another person, whose identity is the subject of investigation," the statement added. Jund al-Khilafa, (Soldiers of the Caliphate) -- who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group -- last year grabbed credit for kidnapping and killing Hervé Gourdel, a 55-year-old mountain guide in the Djurdjura ranges southeast of Algiers. The Algerian army mobilised some 3,000 troops in the search for the Frenchie's body and eventually found it earlier this month after a tip-off from a suspected holy warrior being held in jug. Gourdel's remains will be transferred to La Belle France on Monday. As part of the investigation, prosecution cases have been brought against 15 people, all Algerian nationals. At least six jihadis have also been killed, including the leader of Jund al-Khilafa, Abdelmalik Gouri, who the army said it had killed in December. In November Morocco announced the arrest of six men in the region of Berkane, near Oujda, for making a video in which they announced "the appearance of Jund al-Khilafa" in the kingdom. The long common border between Algeria and Morocco has been officially closed for more than 20 years owing to persistent diplomatic disputes. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... it is still the site of various forms of contraband trafficking. |
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| Africa North |
| Algerian army kills man behind beheading |
| 2014-12-24 |
| [INDEPENDENT.IE] The man behind the kidnapping and beheading of a French hiker in Algeria has been killed in a military operation, officials said. A Ministry of Defence statement said Abdelmalik Gouri was killed with two associates near the city of corpse-littered Boumerdes, east of the capital Algiers. Two other turbans were later killed nearby, added the statement. A group calling itself Jund al-Khilafah and pledging allegiance to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group in Syria kidnapped French hiker Herve Gourdel in the Djurdjura mountains in September. Mr Gourdel was beheaded on video a few days later when demands for La Belle France to end air strikes were not met. The Algerian army carried out a massive operation to find the group behind the kidnapping and said two other members had been killed in past months. Gouri was killed in a late-night operation in the town of Isser. A local security source said the military had been tracking him for a while and nearly caught him a month before. "This time the intelligence services had information that he was coming to visit his parents so they set an ambush," the officer said. After the beheading of Mr Gourdel, the Jund al-Khilafah group issued videos showing masked men carrying weapons in a forest and pledging allegiance to Islamic State. Gouri, a former al Qaeda commander, split from al Qaeda in September and pledged allegiance to IS, promising new operations. While al Qaeda is active in the deserts in the deep south of Algeria, its activities in the northern mountains are restricted to occasional attacks on soldiers. |
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| Africa North |
| Algeria Hunts 15 Fugitives in Frenchman's Beheading |
| 2014-10-03 |
| [AnNahar] Algeria is hunting 15 suspects in the kidnapping and beheading of French tourist Herve Gourdel on terrorism, kidnapping and murder charges, a judicial source said on Thursday. The runaways are all Algerians and include the head of Jund al-Khilifa, or "Soldiers of the Caliphate," a group linked to Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... jihadists in Iraq and Syria, the source told Agence La Belle France-Presse. Abdelmalik Gouri, the 37-year-old head of the group, his right-hand man Abdallah Abou Meriem, and the 13 other suspects are believed to have joined myrmidon organizations during Algeria's civil war in the 1990s. Gourdel was seized by the group on September 21 while hiking in a national park in eastern Algeria. The 55-year-old mountain guide was beheaded in a video posted online last week, after La Belle France rejected the kidnappers' ultimatum to halt anti-IS air raids in Iraq. The investigation into Gourdel's murder is being handled by a special Algerian court that deals with organized crime and those linked to terrorism, while another probe is under way in La Belle France. On Wednesday Algeria said the suspects were identified during a preliminary probe. Jund al-Khilifa was formed at the end of August after splintering from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and pledging allegiance to IS. Experts say its members are former AQIM members like Gouri, who was the right-hand man of AQIM chief Abdelmalik Droukdel ... aka Abdel Wadoud, was a regional leader of the GSPC for several years before becoming the group's supremo in 2004 following the death of then-leader Nabil Sahraoui. Under Abdel Wadoud's leadership the GSPC has sought to develop itself from a largely domestic entity into a larger player on the international terror stage. In September 2006 it was announced that the GSPC had joined forces with al-Qaeda and in January 2007 the group officially changed its name to the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb..... |
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