By Yousef Abdul

MOGADISHU (Sunatimes)- It was one of the most major operations to break up international terrorist networks in liaison with the Salafi Group for Call and Combat [GSPC] or Al-Qa'idah in the [Lands of the] Islamic Maghreb (AQLIM) that the security agencies have just carried out in the Batna maquis.

It lifted the veil on a relationship that has become increasingly pronounced between the GSPC's phalanges and those of Usamah Bin-Ladin. Indeed, according to security sources, everything started with this news report supplied by repentants about the plan for the assignment of one of the most notorious Mauritanian terrorists, Brahim Ould Mohamed Ould Na, better known by the nickname of Abou Anes Echenguitti, as a mufti (exegete) to the leadership of the GSPC with the goal of increasing the number of attacks and redeploying "armed action" on the ground. As an imam by training, and being a part of the Mauritanian Salafi group, he had played an important role in the recruitment of the young people of his country to ship them to Iraq.

In direct contact with Usamah Bin-Ladin, he was, according to the security agencies, allegedly instructed by the latter to direct his actions towards the beefing up of the massive recruitment of young Mauritanians in the ranks of the GSPC's phalanges before receiving the order to join the Al Moulathamoune katibat led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, called Abou Al Abbes or Belaouer, and Abou Zeid's Tarik Ibn Ziyad [katibat], both of which are active in northern Mali. His mission was to indoctrinate the young recruits to carry out suicide bomber attacks and abductions of Westerners.

Thanks to his special contacts with Usamah Bin-Ladin's organization, he allegedly succeeded in getting himself accepted as an exegete officer and a member of the "council of wise men" (Ahl Al Aqd), two central GSPC agencies, an organization to which he would give an international dimension via the massive support from foreigners, especially Mauritanians, who have become increasingly predominant in the Sahel. In 2008 he travelled to Algeria and stayed in the Tebessa and then the Batna maquis, where he proceeded to reorganize terrorist groups in the two regions.

He was supposed to get to Droukdel's hideout when the security agencies arrested him in a trap that had been set for him towards the end of the same year. His revelations would lift the veil on Al-Qa'idah new strategy not just in Algeria but also in Europe, in France especially, through the sending (to that country) of a terrorist by the name of Mustapha Debchi, called Abou Mohamed Al Othmani, who had gone into the maquis in May 2008.

A native of Constantine and a young state electronics engineer, with perfect command of English, French, and Arabic as well as computers, he had been charged with information for the GSPC's southern zone before being named by Droukdel to set up new terrorist cells in Europe, which he had been getting ready to join from the port of Annaba before being arrested. His confessions to the security forces, like those of Abou Anes, would allow for the identification and arrest of a large portion of the members of the organization active in Algeria, two of whom were Mauritanian nationals, Mohamed Yahia Ould Khaitari, called Abou Zakaria Echenguitti, a Mauritanian shepherd who had been recruited in 2007 and who had gotten to the terrorists' training camp located in Al Maghit (in Mali) before surrendering, in 2008, in the Oustili maquis in Batna; as well as Abdellah Ould Ahmed Ould Andjiya, called Salah Abou Al Arkam Echenguitti, a fundamentalist who graduated from a Koran school in Nouakchott in 2005 and was recruited in 2006 by one of his compatriots and then taken by a Malian terrorist to In Khallil (in Mali) and a terrorists camp in the Sahel, where he underwent paramilitary training before getting to Djebel Labiodh in Tebessa in around 2007; in 2008 he was transferred to the Batna mountains until his arrest.

The 12 other Algerian terrorists who were arrested during this operation were Aissam Hamadouche, called Abou Hareth, who had been active since May 2008; Ahmed Djouad, called Abou Ibrahim Al Wahrani, who had been in the ranks since June 2006; Khaled Hamdane, called Abou Kaakaa El Wahrani, who joined the GSPC in 2005; Djillali Chouikhi, called Abou Dher Lemdani, who had been recruited in 2006; Fethi Besseghir, called Zoubir El Wahrani, who had been recruited in 2006; Selmane El Yakouti, who had been in the ranks of the Armed Islamic Group [GIA] in 1995 before joining the GSPC and was a member of the leadership of the El Forkane katibat, which is active in Batna; Djamel Lasbahani, called Abou Abdellah Al Wahrani, who was recruited in 2006; Nasreddine Mettouche, called Okacha Abou Al Bara, who was recruited in 2006; Mohtar Khalkhal, called Yahia Abou Koutada, a member of the GIA in 1994 before joining the GSPC and who had been in charge of the workshop manufacturing explosive devices within the El Fath El Moubine phalange; and Zine El Abidine Menzer, called Abou Yasser El Othmani, who was recruited in 2006. The information supplied by the latter to the security agencies helped identify 211 terrorists from Mali, Libya, Mauritania, Tunisia, Sudan, Morocco, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, and Burkina Faso who are part of Al-Qa'idah active in the Sahel. The news reports also highlighted the GSPC's proven connections with other international terrorist organizations affiliated with or close to Bin Ladin's Al-Qa'idah, among which are Nigeria's Boko Haram, led by Abou Bakr Chikou; the Somali Harakat Chabab Moudjahidine movement, whose leader is a certain Abou Zoubeir who, according to the confessions of the arrested terrorists, allegedly benefited from the GSPC's logistical support via paramilitary training and financial aid but also from weapons acquired thanks to ransoms.

In addition, the same sources stated that the major batch of weapons recovered from the arrested terrorists was made up of 14 Kalashnikov sub-machine guns; one semi-automatic rifle; 38 cartridge clips; eight small blades, three explosive devices, eight grenades, 1,850 cartons of munitions; in addition, 21 cell phones, 33 Subscriber Identity Module [SIM] cards, two pairs of binoculars, three bottles of mercury, two photovoltaic plates, medicines, and the sum of 126,995 Algerian dinars [DA] were confiscated. Other batches of weaponry were recovered by the security agencies after the assault that was mounted on hideouts located in the Taghda maquis in Batna. Involved were one Rocket-Propelled Grenade [RPG]-2 rocket launcher; four rockets; one Dictariov with a cartridge slip; one Kalashnikov sub-machine gun, one Hristal [as published]-type [FN/]-FAL with a cartridge clip; one repeater rifle; one MAT-49 with a cartridge slip; seven explosive devices; 81 detonators; 5.5 meters of detonator line; 70 kilograms of ammonium nitrate; 40 kilograms of chemical products entering in the manufacture of bombs; 2,000 shells of various calibers; three radio sets; and a pair of binoculars. It was practically a coup de grace that the security forces gave the terrorist organization, which thus finds itself deprived of its most important supports...

Source: Sunatimes.com

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