Algeria: Looking For Love

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July 8, 2007: Terrorist violence in June (25 dead) was up a bit from May (when fifteen died). Last month, 19 rebels and six soldiers were killed. Thus for the first half of the year, 207 have died. While Islamic terrorists continue to be active, their operations are way down from what they were a few years ago. In addition to those killed or captured in Algeria, many have been caught in neighboring countries and in Europe. Iraq has become a death trap for Algerian Islamic radicals. Those that go to Iraq usually die, or return and leave the terrorist life. Many Algerian Islamic radicals have become demoralized because, well, most Moslems hate them. All those dead Moslems, especially the women and children, has a lot to do with it. Since the early 1990s, when Islamic terrorists became very active in Algeria, some 200,000 have died, most of the them civilians slaughtered by Islamic radicals (often entire families or villages), who used mass murder to encourage civilians to support them. This eventually backfired, as it is doing in Iraq as well.

July 7, 2007: In a secret trial, a local journalist was sentenced to ten years in prison for spying for Israel. The journalist, Said Sahnoun, was accused of providing Israel with information on the Algerian armed forces and local Islamic terrorist activity. Israel has long used Arab journalists as sources of information, and many of these reporters didn't even know they were working for Israeli intelligence, as they passed their information on to another Arab, who had a cover story (usually involving "working for another Arab country.") Since the trial was held in secret, it was not known how Said Sahnoun was caught.

July 5, 2007: The governor of a Berber region, about a hundred kilometers east of the capital, escaped unharmed when a roadside bomb was used against him. The bomb went off too late. Islamic terrorists have been hiding out in the area, but have also suffered many reverses of late.

July 4, 2007: The treasurer of al Qaeda in North Africa (Zakaria) was captured a hundred kilometers east of the capital. Three other terrorists with him were killed. Also seized was $27,000 in local currency. Documents captured with Zakaria indicate he had raised six million dollars in the last few months.

June 28, 2007: Mauritania arrested six men and accused them of working for al Qaeda. The men were caught using an Internet cafe to communicate with other terrorists. Three of the prisoners were from Morocco and three from Mauritania. This makes 31 terrorist suspects arrested in the last month.

June 27, 2007: In the hilly forests 500 kilometers east of the capital, troops have cornered several dozen Islamic terrorists, and some family members. However, one member of the group was captured, and said that the fifteen terrorists plan to use women and children as human shields if they are cornered. In another action, 260 kilometers east of the capital, troops killed Ali Abu Dahdah (the number three man in the North African branch of al Qaeda) and two of his bodyguards.

 

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