10 al-Qaeda rebels killed
2008-04-16 21:20
Algiers - Algerian security forces have killed 10 al-Qaeda rebels who had been planning suicide attacks this month in Algiers, a security source said on Wednesday.
The killings, which took place in the past week, coincided with arrests by the authorities of 25 people suspected of aiding the guerrillas, the source added.
The attacks had been planned to mark the anniversary of a triple suicide bombing in Algiers on April 11, 2007 that killed 33 people at the main government offices and at two police buildings near Algiers airport, the source said.
The April 11 bombings, claimed by al-Qaeda's north Africa wing, were the first large bomb attacks in the centre of the Mediterranean port city in more than a decade and were believed to be the country's first ever suicide bomb attacks.
Al-Qaeda also claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing on December 11 2007 that killed 41 people, including 17 UN staff, in the capital.
Information gained from Islamic rebels
The attacks deepened concern that Algeria might return to the intense violence of the 1990s when tens of thousands of Islamist guerrillas fought to set up Islamic rule.
The source said the 10 were killed in separate incidents.
One of the 10 was Abu Dujana, a explosives specialist who was leading the rebel group planning the attacks. He was killed in an ambush by security forces in the region of Tizi Ouzou east of the capital, the source said.
Amongst the 10 was senior Islamist rebel Bouazoune Nadir, also known as Chuaib Abu Al Hemam. He was in charge of hiring and training new would-be suicide bombers, and was also killed in the region of Tizi Ouzou, the source said.
The source said the Algerian security forces had acted on the basis of information gained from Islamic rebels who had recently surrendered. The source did not elaborate.
Opec member Algeria plunged into violence in 1992 after a military backed government had scrapped legislative elections a radical islamist party was set to win. Up to 200 000 people have been killed in subsequent violence.