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| Africa North |
| Algeria: an AQIM network dismantled |
| 2011-02-07 |
| [Ennahar] Algerian security services managed to dismantle, network of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in the south-east, who was preparing attacks in Europe including La Belle France, newspapers reported on Sunday in Algiers. Fourteen Islamist Death Eaters, including two Mauritanians suspected of links with AQIM and preparing attacks in Europe, were nabbed in late December by security forces in the region of Batna, in the Aures (450 km southeast of Algiers), according to the daily El Watan. Among them the Salafist leader Ibrahim Ould Mohamed Mauritanian Ouldna presented as the "mufti" (exegesis) of AQIM, who had joined the ranks of AQIM in Algeria in 2008, the newspaper said, citing the Algerian security services. The Islamist then stayed in the thicket of Tebessa (Far East) and Batna where he organized and trained gangs in Algeria and Mauritania to carry out suicide kabooms and kidnappings of Westerners, the paper added. The group would hit in European countries including La Belle France, according to the Arabic daily El-Khabar. Ibrahim Ould Mohamed Ouldna was nabbed in late December as he was about to reach the refuge of AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droudkel, said El Watan. His confession led to the first arrest of another Islamist, Abu Mustapha Debchi, alias Mohamed Al Othman, an electronics engineer at the port of Annaba (east) while preparing to embark to Europe to put in place AQIM cells, the source said. The confessions of the engineer then led to the arrest of all members of the network in Algeria. In addition, an Islamist presented as a senior al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was killed Friday night in the region of Bouira (120 km south-east of Algiers), according to several Algerian newspapers. Bourihane Kamel, aka Abu Hafs, was also considered the right arm of AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdel. |
| Posted by:Fred |