Algeria has found out that the Islamist movement has largely replaced its Al Qaeda-aligned leadership. Algerian security sources said that under its new name, Al Qaida Organization in Islamic Maghreb, the Salafists have replaced much of their longtime leadership. The security sources said many of the field commanders and operatives were removed and militants trained in Iraq were appointed. "We are seeing new faces among the Salafists captured by security forces and many, if not, most of them, received their training in Iraq," a security source said. Over the last month, Algerian authorities arrested more than 30 suspected Al Qaida operatives, formerly named the Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call. The sources said the detainees marked a new generation of Islamic militants who refused an amnesty offer by President Abdul Aziz Bouteflika. Al Qaeda Organisation of the Islamic Maghreb, a group of Algerian Islamist rebels formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has waged fierce attacks on different targets in Algeria in March. The death toll from political violence in Algeria more than doubled to 45 in March from February as the army stepped up attacks on Islamist militants, according to a count based on newspaper reports.
The increase in casualties stems from a military push in the Kabylie region east of the capital in which helicopter gunships, armoured vehicles and thousands of troops were deployed against rebels holed up in mountains and forests, the newspapers said. Of the 45 dead, 33 were rebels, 11 were soldiers and one was a foreigner, a Russian, the newspapers reported. The toll compares with 18 dead in February and 21 dead in January, bringing to 84 the number of people killed in political conflict in the first quarter of the year, according to the newspapers which have correspondents in the Kabylie region. No comparative figures were available for the same period last year.
The Russian was killed on March 3 in a bomb attack on a bus carrying workers for a Russian gas pipeline construction firm. The attack was claimed by the al Qaeda Organisation of the Islamic Maghreb, a group of Algerian Islamist rebels formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) who adopted the new name in January to deepen ties to al Qaeda.