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Monday, July 30, 2007

Al Qaida declares holy terror war on Algeria

CAIRO — Al Qaida has claimed responsibility for a series of recent strikes that incurred heavy casualties against the military and security forces in Algeria.

The Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb trumpeted the launch of what it termed a full-scale holy war in Algeria.

"The holy warriors, thank God, have managed to reorganize their ranks and set forth their plans, and are preparing many surprises," Al Qaida said in a statement posted on the Internet on July 23. "We call upon all our Muslim brothers to stay away from the centers of the infidels and official apostates, as well as security [gatherings] of army and police."

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Al Qaida has claimed nearly daily attacks on Algerian military and police targets, Middle East Newsline reported. Al Qaida said Algerian authorities have concealed casualty figures from Islamic suicide bombings and improvised explosive device attacks.

Algerian authorities have acknowledged that Al Qaida was targeting military and security forces. On Monday, the Algerian Army said nine soldiers were injured in a bombing attributed to unidentified "terrorists" in Buoura, about 120 kilometers east of Algiers.

The bombing was the latest in a series of major strikes claimed by Al Qaida. On July 13, Al Qaida claimed responsibility for attacks on army and police bases in Tizi Ouzou, about 120 kilometers east of Algiers. The group said operatives fought Algerian security forces for two hours with machine guns, rockets and bombs.

"The holy warriors were able to capture the police station and seize 13 weapons as booty," an Al Qaida statement dated July 19 said. "The fruits of the attack were that more than 25 apostate soldiers were killed and injured."

On July 14, Al Qaida was again said to have attacked security forces. The statement said four Al Qaida operatives were killed.

The Al Qaida claims have been partially confirmed by the regime in Algiers. Algerian authorities reported killing four Al Qaida operatives around July 14, but said only three soldiers died in insurgency missions.

Al Qaida also said it attacked an Algerian Army patrol on July 12 in Bou Saada near Djelfa. The statement said four soldiers were killed and others were injured. A day earlier, two Algerian soldiers were also said to have been killed in an Al Qaida IED strike.

At the same time, Al Qaida drove a truck into an Algerian Special Operations Forces base in Lakhdaria, a claim confirmed by witnesses and government sources. Al Qaida claimed that more than 70 soldiers were killed, a casualty figure seven times of that reported by the government.

"By the power from Allah, he was able to breach the base and detonated his truck that was loaded with more than one ton of explosives," Al Qaida said. "At that moment, more than 70 soldiers were killed and an unknown number was injured."

Al Qaida also provided details of its July 5 bombing of the motorcade of the governor of Tizi Ouzou. The governor survived, but Al Qaida said an unspecified number of soldiers were killed.

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