This is the AP version of the story regarding Sahraoui’s departure from the gene pool ...
The death of Nabil Sahraoui, head of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, marked a major victory for Algerian government efforts to suppress Islamic militant violence and left his armed extremist organization with no clear leader. Sahraoui and three of his lieutenants were killed in a "vast anti-terrorist operation" that continues in the Kabylie region east of the capital, Algiers, the army general staff said in a statement. Sahraoui is not known to have been behind attacks outside Algeria. But bin Laden’s network has made inroads into Algeria. A Yemeni al-Qaeda lieutenant, Emad Abdelwahid Ahmed Alwan, was killed in a September 2002 gunbattle about 270 miles east of Algiers. Authorities said he had met with Salafists and was managing operations for al-Qaeda in North Africa. Sahraoui’s death left open the possibility of a leadership fight within the Salafists.
"Sahraoui's worm food! I'm takin' over!"
"Sez who? I'm takin' over!"
"Apostatate!"
"Infidel!"
"Take that! [KABOOM!]" |
The Salafists’ actual strength is unknown, although experts believe the group is small, with several hundred fighters, and is fragmented into autonomous brigades. "The influence of the GSPC has been steadily eroded by security initiatives within Algeria, in the pan-Sahara region and of course within Europe," said Magnus Ranstorp, director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University in Scotland. Sahraoui’s death "will leave a little bit of a vacuum within the GSPC, particularly internally within Algeria, and may make it difficult for them to resuscitate," he said in a telephone interview.
"Ummm... Mahmoud! Think about this. How many leaders we had in the past five years?"
"Uh... I dunno. I lost track. Five? Six?"
"Where are they now?"
"Lessee, here... Uhhh... Dead... Dead... Dead... That one got killed, too... Uhhh... All dead."
"'At's what I thought. Tell ya what. I'm sorry I called you an apostate. You can be in charge." |
Sahraoui had a reputation for ruthlessness, stemming partly from a campaign of killings he ran against a now-defunct insurgent group, the Islamic Salvation Army, after it called a cease-fire with the Algerian government in 1997. The daily Liberte said a forensic police team identified Sahraoui’s body. The newspaper Le Soir said nearly 3,000 soldiers were involved in the sweep in wooded mountains in the Bejaia region of Kabylie, some 160 miles east of Algiers. Sahraoui took over from longtime leader Hassan Hattab, who reportedly was viewed as too moderate by some Salafists.
| "Hassan, y'r too moderate. It's time you retired. Mahmoud! Shoot him!" |
Under Hattab, the Salafists distrusted outsiders and kept al-Qaeda at arms length, focusing instead on their domestic agenda of combating the government. Another Salafist leader, Amari Saifi, is in the hands of a rebel group in Chad that captured him and wants ransom from Algeria or the West, according to officials in a country involved in the situation. |