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| Africa North |
| Suspects behind U.N. office bombing, other terror attacks in Algeria in pre-trial hearing |
| 2008-02-07 |
| Six suspects appeared before an investigating judge on Wednesday over deadly twin truck bombings in December at a U.N. office and a government building in Algiers, the Interior Ministry said. The ministry also said the suspected ringleader behind the attacks, identified as Bouzegza Abderahmane, was killed during a Jan. 28 sweep by security forces in Souk el-Had, a section of the Boumerdes region east of the capital. Security concerns have been high in Algeria since the Dec. 11 suicide bombings struck U.N. offices and the Constitutional Council building, killing at least 37 people — including 17 U.N. workers. The dual attacks were the most serious in a recent wave of violence signaling that Islamic fighters are regrouping in the North African country. An al-Qaida affiliate in Algeria has claimed responsibility. The ministry, which identified the six only by their first initials and surnames, said they were computer expert F. Yacine; real estate agent K. Ahmed; delivery man B. Amine, and three business owners: B. Fouad, K. Youcef and M. Mustapha. The ministry did not say what the next step in the prosecution would be, nor did it specify when the six had been detained. Abderahmane, known better as the "emir" Bouzegza, was said to be a highly sought target by Algerian authorities — and the subject of 43 search domestic warrants over the last decade. He was believed to be a leader of the El-Farouk brigade, a wing of al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa — the new name of a longtime insurgent group in Algeria. The ministry said El-Farouk was also behind a Dec. 10 attack on two vehicles carrying employees of an affiliate of U.S. company Halliburton near Algiers, killing an Algerian driver and injuring nine others. "All the bombings recently committed recently in the Algiers area have been elucidated," said Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, quoted by the official news agency APS. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called in December for an independent panel to investigate the twin bombings. The Algerian government has opposed a U.N. investigation, saying it was already investigating the attacks. |
| Posted by:Fred |