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Africa North
Speculation grows over 'French jihadist' in Algeria
2013-01-22
[FRANCE24] French and Algerian intelligence sources claim that at least one of the hard boyz who staged the deadly takeover at the In Amenas gas plant was a French national, according to media reports on Monday, but Gay Paree says it cannot verify the information.

A French jihadist was among the bully boy hard boyz who staged last week's deadly takeover of the In Amenas gas plant in the Algerian desert and sparked a hostage situation that ended in tragedy over the weekend, according to intelligence and judicial sources in Algiers and Gay Paree quoted by a French newspaper.

Citing unnamed police and justice ministry sources, Le Gay Pareeien wrote on Monday there was "at least one Frenchie" in the Islamist group. Frédéric Helbert, an investigative news hound specialising in counter-terrorism, said Algerian intelligence sources confirmed there was one Frenchie in the commando unit and provided the alleged terrorist's name to La Belle France's DCRI domestic security agency.

The information appeared to add weight to media reports that began circulating last Friday, after hostages who survived the original terrorist siege, and two bloody Algerian operations to retake the gas facility, said some of the hard boyz spoke French and English, besides Arabic.

Helbert also wrote on his blog that a source at La Belle France's DCRI agency said the name provided by Algerian intelligence could not be found on any of his agency's files.

The source wondered if the Algerians had provided false information to lead French Sherlocks off course, citing a bitter feud between French and Algerian intelligence agencies dating back to the Algerian war of independence.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls told news hounds on January 20 he "did not believe" there was a French jihadist in In Amenas, warning the press about relaying false "rumours".

In an interview with Le Gay Pareeien, Yves Trotignon, a former member of La Belle France' DGSE spy agency, said: "We will find out if there were Tunisians, Libyans, Chadians, but also Salafists
...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them...
from Europe."

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the veteran Algerian Islamist fighter, grabbed credit for the attack in a video in which he said it had been carried out by forty jihadists "from different Moslem countries, and even from Europe".

The alleged French jihadist was reportedly killed during one of the rescue missions by Algerian forces.

The final corpse count from the hostage crisis remains unclear, with Algerian authorities expected to give more information on the assault on Monday afternoon. At least one French hostage died at In Amenas, according to reports.
Posted by:Fred

#1  Canadian Frenchie???
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2013-01-22 00:29  

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