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I wonder if "Call 19" from the recent Bin Laden photo/collage has any association to this "Call and Combat" group.

I was thinking the same thing BCA as soon as I saw the posting of their group name. I don't recall hearing of this group before. But we read and we learn.

Salafi Group for Call and Combat

ARMED ISLAMIC GROUP TERRORISM

Security forces in Algeria have killed one of the world's most dangerous terrorists. On February 8th, Antar Zouabri [AHN-tar zoo-WAH-bree] was shot dead in a gun-battle in Boufarik [BOO-fahr-rik], near Algiers, the capital. Since 1996, Zouabri had been the leader of the Armed Islamic Group.

An Islamic extremist terrorist group, the Armed Islamic Group aims to overthrow the secular Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state. It began its campaign of terror in early 1992, after the government voided the victory of the Islamic Salvation Front in legislative elections.

The Armed Islamic Group has massacred thousands of Algerian men, women and children, sometimes wiping out entire villages. Since 1993, it has targeted foreigners living in Algeria and killed more than one hundred -- mostly Europeans. In addition to car bombings and other forms of murder, the group specializes in kidnapping victims and cutting their throats.

A splinter faction called the Salafi Group for Call and Combat emerged in 1998. Both terrorist groups continue to reject Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's [ahb-dehl ah-ZEEZ boo-tah-FLEE-kah's] offer of amnesty to insurgents who surrender. A third terrorist group, the Islamic Salvation Army, accepted the amnesty and disbanded in 2000. The Algerian government estimates that terrorism by these groups has caused the deaths of more than one-hundred thousand people since 1992.

This puts a smile on my face. I wonder if Bin Laden has access to Yahoo. If so this picture will make him have to change his diaper.

Iraqis buy Pepsi imported from Kuwait at a market in Basra in a May 24, 2003 file photograph. PepsiCo Inc., the number two soft drink company, said January 7, 2004 it signed a deal with Baghdad Soft Drinks Co. to bottle and distribute Pepsi products in Iraq . The move, which the company said is expected to create about 2,000 jobs at Baghdad Soft Drinks, marks PepsiCo's return to Iraq after a 13-year absence mandated by international trade sanctions. PepsiCo entered the Iraq market in 1950. REUTERS/Faleh Kheiber

Salmin Mohammed Khamis, left, Said Saggar Ahmed, center, and Kubwa Mohammed Seif greet friends in the Nairobi magistrate court, Wednesday Jan 7, 2004 at the begining of their trial. Prosecutors in the trial of three men suspected of conspiring to blow up a tourist hotel in Mombasa, shoot down an Israeli airliner and bombing the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, began their case Wednesday with witnesses laying the groundwork for the case. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)

Trial Begins for 3 Kenya Terror Suspects

Wed Jan 7, 9:56 AM ET

By TOM MALITI, Associated Press Writer

NAIROBI, Kenya - Three men suspected in al-Qaida attacks on a tourist hotel and an Israeli airliner in Kenya went on trial Wednesday, with witnesses describing the attempt to shoot down the jet.

Five farmers who live near the airport in the port city of Mombasa separately said they saw a plane flying over them, trailed by two objects releasing heavy smoke early on Nov. 28, 2002. The two SA-7 missiles narrowly missed the Israeli passenger jet.

Defendants Said Saggar Ahmed, Salmin Mohammed Khamis and Kubwa Mohammed Seif are charged with conspiracy in four cases: the Nov. 28, 2002, bombing of Paradise Hotel north of Mombasa, which killed 15 people, including three Israeli tourists; the nearly simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner; an alleged plot to destroy the new U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in June; and the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, which killed 219 people, including 12 Americans.

All three have pleaded innocent, but at least one of the suspects, Khamis, reportedly admitted taking part in the plot to destroy the new embassy shortly after he was arrested in June.

A local administrator in Lamu, on Kenya's coast, linked Seif to an alleged militant on the FBI (news - web sites)'s list of most wanted terrorists, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed. He said Mohammed, using the name Abdul Karim, stayed in the area for four months and later married Seif's daughter.

The administrator, Haddadi Ali Nuri, said he had not seen the man since February 2003.

Mohammed is the alleged mastermind of the Nov. 28, 2002, attacks and has been indicted by a U.S. court for his role in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy.

Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network claimed responsibility for the attacks in November 2002 as well as the August 1998 embassy bombings in Nairobi and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Ahmed, Khamis and Seif were among nine originally charged with murder in the hotel bombing. Murder charges also were dropped against two other suspects.

Prosecutor Edwin Okello told The Associated Press he would call about 40 witnesses at the trial, which is scheduled to continue Thursday before adjourning for an undetermined period.

35 GIs Injured in Iraq Mortar Attack

Wednesday January 7, 2004 10:31 PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Thirty-five U.S. soldiers were wounded Wednesday in a mortar attack on a U.S. base west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Six mortar rounds impacted about 6:45 p.m. at Logistical Base Seitz, the military said in a statement. The wounded soldiers were from the 3rd Corps Support Command.

``The wounded soldiers were given first-aid and have been evacuated from the site for further medical treatment,'' the statement said.

The military didn't provide any further details on the condition of the injured soldiers or of the attack.