The United States has warned its citizens against
traveling to Algeria.
Officials said American nationals could be under threat in the North
African country. They said the threat appears greatest outside of major
Algerian cities.
Last week, the State Department updated a warning against travel to
Algeria. Officials said the warning reflected the conclusion of the Western
European hostage crisis in which Islamic insurgents held 32 Austrians,
Dutch, German, Swedish and Swiss nationals for nearly six months in the
Sahara desert. One of the hostages died in captivity.
The Al Qaida-related Salafist
Brigade for Combat and Call took responsibility for the abduction, Middle East Newsline reported. The
kidnappers fled to neighboring Mali where they received an estimated 5
million euro ransom for the release of the hostages.
Assuming the unassumable
Those who believe that an unplanned, random "Big Bang" explosion of unknown matter caused the formation of the numberless bodies of the cosmos have more faith that fanatics. They also conveniently ignore some obvious points of information:
Read on . . .
"The Department of State urges U.S. citizens to defer nonessential
travel to Algeria and to evaluate carefully their security and safety if
they choose to travel," the State Department said. "Random terrorist attacks
still occur in rural and remote areas, on public transportation outside the
major cities, and in some parts of the country at night."
The State Department reported an improvement in security around Algiers.
This included a decline in Islamic insurgency attacks in the Algerian
capital and the surrounding area.
