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18 dead in ambush of Algerian security patrol
Islamic extremists killed 18 people in an ambush of an army convoy south of the capital Algiers. The L'Expression newspaper said some 50 extremists used a bomb to blow up the convoy and then raked it with machine-gun fire, killing 13 soldiers and five civilians who were travelling with them. The attack took place in the early hours of Monday in a remote area in the region of Biskra, some 420 kilometers (260 miles) south of the capital, the paper said Wednesday. Some of the soldiers were able to fire back, reportedly injuring some of the assailants. The paper said the rebels, said to be from Algeria's extremist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), were later surrounded by security forces. The attack was the deadliest in Algeria since 16 people were murdered more than three months ago in the region of Medea, also south of Algiers.
What happened when they were surrounded by security forces?
The GSPC has become the principal extremist group in Algeria's Islamist rebellion that has left some 150,000 people dead since 1992. It was allegedly founded on the instructions of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The group was linked to the kidnapping last year of 32 European tourists, mosts of them Germans, in southern Algeria. One group was freed in a raid by Algerian soldiers, but the other was forced to trek across the desert into Mali, before they were eventually released, allegedly in exchange for a ransom. One of the hostages, a German woman, died in captivity. Observers believe the GSPC group responsible for Monday's attack was backed by militants from other regions and is headed by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who security forces say recently returned to Algeria after going into hiding in neighboring Mali.

L'Expression newspaper said that following the arrest in October of the radical group's number two leader, Amari Saifi, who was handed over by Libya, Belmokhtar has rallied hardline members of the GSPC who have managed to survive in the south of the country thanks to contraband and drug traffickers. According to authorities the GSPC has between 300 and 500 members. The GSPC has become the only organized extremist group still operating in the country following the demise of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), once considered the deadliest radical movement fighting secular authorities.
Posted by: Steve 2005-01-05
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=52965