Algeria Terrorist Bombers Were Freed Under Amnesty Program
December 16, 2007 by national
Filed under World Report
For those who think you can just play nice with terrorists, or that an act of kindness will somehow be reciprocated. This is the result of such thinking.
Two convicted terrorists who had been freed in an amnesty carried out the suicide bombings in Algeria that killed 37 people, a security official said.
One was a 64-year-old man in the advanced stages of cancer.
The other was a 32-year-old from a poor suburb that has produced many Islamic militants.
The security official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak.
The Government has offered amnesties to try to end a 15-year Islamic insurgency, resulting in thousands of militants turning themselves in but sparking fierce criticism from victims’ families.
Al-Qaida’s self-styled North African branch has claimed responsibility for the twin truck bombings on Tuesday, which came 10 minutes apart.
Victims included United Nations staff from around the world, police officers and law students.
US President George W. Bush called Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to discuss the attacks and offer his condolences, press secretary Dana Perino said.
“President Bush reiterated his commitment to continuing US counter-terrorism co-operation in North Africa to bring the perpetrators to justice,” Ms Perino said.
The Interior Ministry raised the death toll to 37, saying six more bodies had been found in the rubble of the UN offices.
In a posting on a militant website, al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa said the UN offices were “the headquarters of the international infidels’ den”.
The Algerian security official identified the older bomber, who struck the UN offices, as Chebli Brahim, who was suffering from cancer and had lost two sons to army crackdowns on militants.
Brahim was a member of the Muslim fundamentalist party Islamic Salvation Front, arrested after the Government banned the party, the official said.
The younger bomber, who blew up the Constitutional Council building, was identified as Charef Larbi, from a poor Algiers suburb.
He had been arrested for “supporting terrorist groups” and imprisoned in 2004.
Upon release last year, he went into hiding with militants.
