Maghreb al Qaeda deputy killed in Algeria

ALGIERS (Reuters) - The deputy chief of al Qaeda's North Africa wing, believed to be the group's operational leader, was killed along with two other rebels in a gun battle with Algerian troops, local newspapers said on Tuesday.

Hareg Zoheir, also known as Sofiane Abu Fasila, was said to be the second-in-command of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and suspected of being behind planning most of the suicide bombings in Algeria in the recent months.

He was shot dead on Sunday at a check point in the eastern region of Tzizi Ouzou, the country's leading dailies reported.

"Sofiane is a big, big fish. In a way, he was the real boss of the organization in Algeria," Eshorouk's editor and security specialist Anis Rahmani told Reuters, adding that " he was a man of action not a man of religion."

Two other rebels were also killed alongside him during a clash with government troops at the check point, El Watan and Eshorouk newspapers added.

Both were also suspected to be involved in preparing suicide attacks, said the newspapers.

In September, 60 people were killed in bomb attacks in Algeria, which included an attempt to assassinate President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Seventy-five people died in political violence during the same period and 369 people since the beginning of this year, according to a Reuters count based on newspaper reports.

RELATED BLAST FROM THE PAST :

[SNIP] Asharq Al-Awsat, Rabat - Investigations carried out by the Moroccan security services after the arrest of a terrorist cell that was made up of 17 members have uncovered the cell’s terrorist plans. These plans included restructuring the Al-Qaeda organization in Saudi Arabia following the Saudi security forces’ success in finding and arresting a number of its activists. The cell also planned to have the extremist Algerian Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) rejoin Osama Bin Ladin’s organization and set up an Al-Qaeda branch in the Maghreb countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) as a base for attacks to be launched on the countries that support US administration.

The investigations showed that Moroccan Mohamed Raha, the militant who helped the fighters infiltrate into Iraq across the Syrian border, insisted on concentrating on the importance of restructuring Al-Qaeda’s organization in Saudi Arabia and to creating Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb countries in the same way that Abu-Mus’ab al-Zarqawi’s has established Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Security sources said that Raha contacted Khaled Abu-Basir al-Jazairi, responsible for establishing Al-Qaeda in Europe with its supporters in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Britain, Denmark, and Germany, to send urgent messages to Bin Ladin to draw up a comprehensive plan for implementing the intended operations.

....The third message sought to establish an Al-Qaeda organization in the Arab Maghreb countries similar to that in Iraq and to unite the North Africans of Europe.
The security investigations showed that the methodology behind ensuring the plan’s success was based on attracting volunteers and sending them to Algeria to undergo military training in the GSPC’s camps. They would be trained in the use of weapons and the manufacturing of explosives.

Furthermore, they would take part in the Algerian group’s operations against the Algerian security forces. Volunteers would be sent to Syria after having completed this training to set up a base on Syrian soil, and to enter Iraq to carry out suicide operations.

The same investigations also indicated that the Moroccan volunteers would return to Morocco after completing their military tasks in the Middle East and become sleeper cells waiting for instructions from Al-Qaeda to carry out terrorist acts targeting the security and intelligence centers, parliament, tourist establishments, naval and commercial ships, and foreign interests, especially those of Jews.

According to the plan, Al-Qaeda’s terrorist cell was planning to launch its operations in either Morocco or Algeria and if successful, would have called itself “Qaedat al-Jihad in the Arab Maghreb Countries”. .... [/SNIP]

—— “Moroccan source: Terrorist cell reveals plans for establishing Al-Qaeda in North African countries,”
Asharq Al-Awsat, 12/8/05 BY Ahmad Al-Arqam

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