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Last Updated: Dec 15, 2007 - 2:55:41 AM |
ALGIERS (AFP) - Al-Qaeda's Branch in the Islamic Maghreb -- previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) -- which claimed responsibility for Tuesday's deadly twin car bombings in the Algerian capital, has struck several times before in 2007.
Tuesday's attacks claimed 62 fatalities according to hospital sources -- 26 of which were confirmed by the Algerian interior ministry -- with nearly 200 injured in the bombs outside the Supreme Court and the UN's refugee agency.
The GSPC changed its name to Al-Qaeda's Branch in the Islamic Maghreb (BAQMI) this year and has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly attacks, including a series of bombings in the Algerian capital on April 11 that killed 33 people.
It intends to unify the armed Islamist groups in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco as well as emerging groups in countries bordering the Sahara including Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea.
Besides the April 11 blasts that killed 30, Al-Qaeda's North Africa branch also claimed responsibility for a July 11 attack against an army barracks in Lakhdaria resulting in 10 deaths.
It took credit for suicide attacks in the eastern town of Batna on September 6 aimed at President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, killing 22, and at a barracks in Dellys two days later that killed 30.
Its leader is Abdelmalek Drukdel, alias Abu Mossaab Abdeluadud, who has resisted the Algerian president's national reconciliation programme offering pardons for militants who lay down their arms.
The group is blamed for introducing the tactic of suicide-bombing to Algeria.
Experts were unsurprised by the attacks and agreed they were the work of the group.
"For three or four weeks, there have been alert signals on the possibility of attacks in Algeria," said Eric Denece, director of the French Research Centre on Intelligence, adding that the bombings indicated a new strategy by the group of urban attacks.
A source close to France's anti-terrorism service, speaking on condition of anonymity, spoke of the similarities between Tuesday bombings and earlier attacks on April 11 on the government headquarters and a police station.
Both happened in the morning on the 11th -- like the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings -- and used car bombs.
Tuesday's blasts also followed Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri's call for a holy war against North African leaders and their French, Spanish and US allies in an audiotape message last month.
"Islamic nation of resistance and jihad (holy war) in the Maghreb, see how your children are uniting under the banner of Islam and jihad against the United States, France and Spain," Zawahiri said.
He also called for the overthrow of the leaders of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco over their support for Washington's so-called war on terror.
The Algerian army has sought to bring pressure on the group, which may have caused them to respond with Tuesday's actions, said Louis Caprioli, a former French anti-terrorism official.
He called the attacks a "response to the actions carried out with success by the Algerian army" to isolate hideouts used by the group, making it difficult for them to transport supplies and ammunition.
He said in those areas, "the situation is becoming increasingly difficult because of logistical problems."
Caprioli said the advantage of using car bomb attacks is that they are far simpler to organise than military operations against the Algerian army.
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