| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa: North |
| Islamic extremists kill 9 soldiers in Algeria |
| 2003-09-18 |
| Nine soldiers were killed by Islamic extremists at Oued Djemaâ in the Aïn Defla region, 140 kilometres (85 miles) east of the capital Algiers, newspaper reports said Thursday. The soldiers were operating in the mountainous sector on Wednesday when their progress was halted by homemade bombs and they came under fire from suspected members of the hardline Armed Islamic Group (GIA). Their attackers stole their weapons before fleeing into a neighbouring forest, the reports said. The Algerian army really needs to work on not walking into ambushes, this happens way too often. The latest victims take the number of people killed this month in violence involving Islamic militants to at least 12, according to estimates based on officials and press reports. Must be a slow month. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 Ned - thx - forgot about Atlas range - my poor memory... regardless, there's not much veg here in So Cal (San Diego here) to hide if anyone has good binocs and/or IR and a helo |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-9-18 7:43:06 PM |
| #3 The Atlas Mtns in coastal Algeria top out at 2328m / 7638ft so there's bound to be substantial vegetation and forests on north-facing slopes due to winter rain and snow off the Mediterranean. It's probably similar to the mountains in the desert southwest of the US. The higher up you go the more vegetation, etc. So Calif has lots of chaparral and scrub oak forest -- that's what burns during fire season. It's completely different from the forests in NY or New England. |
| Posted by: Ned 2003-9-18 6:36:07 PM |
| #2 I don't know that training the Algierians to be better soldiers is in the interests of the US. It would be nice if they were more proficient at killing terrorists, but we train the Saudi's and so many other hostile forces, why train the Algierians too? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-9-18 2:58:55 PM |
| #1 Algerian forests? I searched on google images and nothing close was found...what are we talking about here? tall weeds? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-9-18 12:43:02 PM |