NationStates Jolt Archive


Terrorist group threatens France, US and Algeria

Ariddia
12-01-2007, 09:53
Terrorist group GSPC (Salafist Group for Call and Combat) is calling for attacks against any French and American presence in Algeria, and against the Algerian government itself.


Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the French anti-terrorism judge, told the I-tele news channel on Tuesday that such threats were not new: "For more than a year, now, we have known that the GSPC is allied with al-Qaeda and that one of the targets is France."

Jean-Baptiste Mattei, French foreign ministry spokesman, said the government "takes all terrorist threats very seriously".

GSPC operations have been confined to Algeria, but the group claimed responsibility for an attack near Algiers in November on employees of an affiliate of US company Halliburton.

[...]

The GSPC is said to number just a few hundred fighters, though scattered attacks blamed on the group are reported nearly every week.

It has sought to exploit international links after being cornered by security forces at home, analysts say.


Full article here (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/21DFEED9-A6CF-41AC-B896-1E60F472226C.htm).

This doesn't seem to have received all that much media coverage. Not seen as a credible threat? Nobody cares because any deaths would probably be in Algeria itself? Or are people just blasé when told they may be blown up?
Qinzhao
12-01-2007, 09:59
So, to avoid attacks, the French and the US should get out from Algeria.
Christmahanikwanzikah
12-01-2007, 10:01
I think the French know what these people are doing and what they have and haven't done... maybe they aren't sure if this group has carried out the attacks they claim they have?

Also, attacking a sect made of a few hundred fighters is harder than one thats composed of thousands of fighters in numerous countries. Or, perhaps, if it does have connections with Al Qaeda, it is merely a branch of it?
Wallonochia
12-01-2007, 10:17
Or, perhaps, if it does have connections with Al Qaeda, it is merely a branch of it?

From the Wikipedia

In September of 2006 the top Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri announced a "blessed union" between the groups in declaring France an enemy. They said they would work together against French and American interests.[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafist_Group_for_Call_and_Combat
Fassigen
12-01-2007, 10:20
There was an interesting article (http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0,36-853285,0.html) about it in Le Monde about it a few days ago.

"Aux Algériens je dis (...) : les Français et les alliés des croisés qui occupent notre pays [le monde musulman] sont à votre portée, tout comme les gorges de ceux qui ont vendu le sang des martyrs", déclare Abou Moussab Abdelouadoud, avant de s'adresser à Oussama Ben Laden : "Nous attendons impatiemment tes instructions et recommandations pour la période à venir. Dieu nous a récemment dotés d'armes et de munitions", annonce-t-il, sans préciser comment le mouvement les a acquises. Aucun armement n'est arrivé en provenance de l'étranger depuis longtemps, indique-t-il toutefois.
Ariddia
12-01-2007, 10:23
There was an interesting article (http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0,36-853285,0.html) about it in Le Monde about it a few days ago.


Indeed. I'd been waiting to provide a source in English for Generalites. ;)
Fassigen
12-01-2007, 10:27
Indeed. I'd been waiting to provide a source in English for Generalites. ;)

You've too much patience with the linguistically bereft.