| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa: North |
| GSPC claims army ambush |
| 2004-06-06 |
| An Algerian Islamic militant group with ties to al Qaeda said it carried out an ambush that killed 10 soldiers and wounded 16 and declared its holy war on secular authorities was not over. The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) said its fighters had staged the ambush on an army convoy on Wednesday, hitting it in broad daylight on a highway in the restive Kabylie region in eastern Algeria. Three more people -- a police official and two members of a paramilitary unit -- were killed in Kabylie on Saturday, local journalists said. Western diplomats said it was too early to tell whether the attacks signaled a general escalation in rebel activity, but added the situation in the Berber region was clearly deteriorating. "The terror attacks look well planned and involving dozens of rebels. Quite daring," a diplomat said. "While hypocrites were hopeful about the disappearance of the jihad and the mujahideen (GSPC members), mujahideen forces carried out several military operations," the GSPC said in a statement on its Web site dated June 3. "On Wednesday...they killed 10 and injured another 16," a statement obtained by Reuters said. Reuters could not verify its authenticity. The GSPC said it had ambushed another convoy only a few days earlier, killing four soldiers and injuring 11. Suspected Islamic militants killed a police superintendent on Saturday near Azazga, a town 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital Algiers, and killed two members of a paramilitary unit in Jijel, local journalists told Reuters. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |