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Men linked to Africa's al-Qaeda
23/12/2007 08:30 - (SA)
Paris - French authorities on Saturday charged two men suspected of having links to the al-Qaeda affiliate behind double suicide attacks in Algeria this month, judicial officials said.
The men - an Algerian and a French man were not identified by name - were charged with criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise, a broad charge commonly used in suspected terrorism cases in France.
The men are suspected of furnishing computer and telecommunications equipment to al-Qaeda in Islamic North Africa, the judicial officials said.
The officials were not authorised to disclose information on the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Three other people held as potential suspects were released, the officials said.
The two charged were among eight people rounded up on Tuesday in the Paris area and near the Normandy city of Rouen. Three were questioned and released earlier.
Police seized computers as they searched the men's homes. The newspaper Le Figaro reported at the time that the men, in their 30s, had police records and had been under surveillance.
Al-Qaeda in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for twin truck bombings on December 11 of the UN offices and an Algerian government building that killed at least 37 people, including 17 UN staff members.
There was nothing to suggest the men arrested in France had any direct involvement in the suicide bombings, police official have said.
Al-Qaeda in Islamic North Africa is the new name taken by the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, or GSPC, Algeria's last remaining insurgency group. French officials have broken up GSPC support networks here in the past.
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