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Algeria appeals to public for help against Salafists

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, January 24, 2007

CAIRO — Algeria has sought help from civilians to fight the nation's Al Qaida-aligned network.

Algerian authorities have launched a campaign against the Salafist Brigade for Call and Combat, Middle East Newsline reported. The Algerian military has called on people to provide information on Salafist operatives and strongholds.

"The evolution of your country and its prosperity depend fundamentally on its stability and security, a duty for all Algerian men and women, regardless of differences in their opinion," an Algerian Army poster read.

The poster campaign has taken place in villages where the Salafists were said to operate. They included areas in the mountains east of Algiers.

The Algerian military does not offer any reward for information that would lead to the capture of Salafist operatives. The Salafists were said to contain about 400 agents.

Algeria has been recruiting allies in North Africa and the West to help capture and extradite Salafist operatives. At least three Algerians suspected of membership in the Salafist Brigade arrested in Britain have agreed to be deported.

Court documents said the Algerians were said to be connected to an Al Qaida plot to blow up Los Angeles International Airport in 1999. The plot was said to have been planned by an Algerian identified as Abu Doha, one of those being held by Britain.

"For these men there have been no convictions, no proper accusations, no knowledge of what is alleged against them and -- astonishingly -- for most, no questioning by police," Gareth Peirce, an attorney for the Algerians, said in a statement. "Each believes he faces torture or death, not because he has committed any offense, but because he has been branded."


Copyright © 2007 East West Services, Inc.

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