Al Qaeda in the Maghreb

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The logo used by the Salafist group for preaching and fighting
Area of operation of the former GSPC and countries of the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative (TSCTI) and Pan-Sahel Initiative

Salafist Group for Sermon and Struggle ( Arabic الجماعة السلفية للدعوة والقتال; French Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat , GSPC ) is a radical Islamist group in Algeria . It named itself on January 25, 2007 in Organization al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (Arabicتنظيم القاعدة ببلاد المغرب الاسلامي; French organization al-Qaïda au Maghreb islamique , AQMI ).

history

Beginnings

The former Salafist group for preaching and fighting was founded by Hassan Hattab in 1998. In 1998, Hattab separated from the Groupe Islamique Armé , the largest Muslim militant movement in Algeria, as a result of their acts of violence during the civil war in Algeria . The word Salafists refers to the first Muslims ( Salafiyya , salafi, the ancestors ). The fundamentalist movement of the same name was founded by the famous Egyptian thought leader Raschid Rida (1865–1935).

In February and March 2003, a total of 32 Sahara tourists from Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands were kidnapped by the GSPC or one of its splinter groups ; one hostage died on June 28, 2003 of heat stroke. 17 of the hostages were released during a violent rescue operation by the Algerian commandos on May 13, 2003, the other 14 were released after negotiations on August 18, 2003 in Mali (see Sahara hostage-taking 2003 ). The hostage-takers fled to Chad and fell into the hands of the local insurgent Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MJDT). Libya exerted its influence at the time and finally achieved the extradition of the terrorist Amari Saifi alias Abderrezak El Para (member of the GSPC since 1999) and five other members to Algeria in October 2004. On April 24, 2005, the terrorists were tried in Algiers and sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2005.

Within al-Qaeda

At the end of 2006, the Salafist group joined al-Qaeda and renamed itself accordingly. With the mediation of al-Qaeda deputy chief Aiman ​​al-Zawahiri , the differences with the Libyan Islamic Combat Group that had existed up to that point were settled in the following year in order to enable better cooperation between the two North African al-Qaida groups. Since then, the "Organization of al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb" has been considered the best-organized armed group. It is listed in the USA as a " Foreign Terrorist Organization ".

The number of active members is falling. According to estimates by the Algerian Ministry of the Interior, the number of members was 800 in 2005, in 2006 it was around 500, and currently there are between 300 and 400 members. The decline in active combatants is mainly due to killings and arrests by the Algerian authorities. The group was headed by Abdelmalek Droukdel , known as Abdelwadoud , until he was killed by anti-terrorist forces of the French army ( Opération Barkhane ) on June 3, 2020 .

On April 11, 2007, the group carried out a suicide attack on the official residence of the Algerian Prime Minister and a police station in eastern Algiers. 33 people died and 222 were injured. Eight months later, two bomb attacks were carried out on the UNHCR building and near the Supreme Court in Algiers. According to official information, at least 26 people, including several United Nations employees , were killed.

On February 22, 2008, an Austrian tourist couple was kidnapped by the group in southern Tunisia, which also made political demands for their release. The two hostages were released in northern Mali on October 31, 2008 after months of negotiations. On January 22, 2009, al-Qaeda abducted a German, a British and a Swiss couple in the Islamic Maghreb in the border area between Mali and Niger. Two of the hostages, the German and one Swiss, were released on April 22, 2009. The Briton was killed by the terrorists on May 31, 2009. The other Swiss man was released by the group on July 12, 2009.

In March 2011, Chadian President Idriss Déby warned that the civil war in Libya would strengthen the AQMI as it received war weapons from the rebel areas. The Algerian secret service also reported a few weeks later that a. for deliveries of armor-piercing shells and anti-aircraft missiles from looted Libyan army depots.

A bomb was detonated in Algeria in February 2012 . It is believed that Islamist terrorists are behind it.

In March 2017, the branch operating in the Sahel zone joined the newly formed group Jamā Dat Nusrat al-Islām wa-l-Muslimīn .

In June 2020, the leader of al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, Abdelmalek Droukdel, was killed during the Barkhane operation .

Conflict in northern Mali since 2012

Since March 2012, the AQMI, together with Ansar Dine and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), was one of the three armed Islamist groups that brought northern Mali under their control and expelled the MNLA . According to various sources of information, not only Ansar Dine but also members of the AQMI were behind the destruction of mausoleums in the city of Timbuktu in 2012. In fighting in the mountainous region of Adrar des Ifoghas on February 22, 2013, one of the leaders of the AQIM, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, died in Kidal, Mali .

Attributed attacks

  • 3 August 2008 attack in Tizi Ouzou (Algeria), 37 dead.
  • 17th August 2008 Attack on a police convoy near Skikda (Algeria), 13 dead.
  • 19 August 2008 Attack in Issers (Algeria) on a police school, 43 dead and 38 injured.
  • January 15 and 16, 2016 Terrorist attack with hostage-taking on the Taxi Brousse bar , the Cappuccino restaurant and the Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), 30 dead (including the photographer Leila Alaoui and the former Swiss MPs Jean-Noël Rey and Georgie Lamon ) and 56 injured.

literature

  • Harald Ickler, Susanne Längfeld: Kidnapped in the desert. Diary of a Sahara hostage . Verlag Bastei Lübbe, 2003, ISBN 978-3-404-61544-5 .
  • Rainer Bracht, Petra Bracht: 177 days of fear . Heel Publishing House; 1st edition, February 2004, ISBN 978-3-933385-27-7 .
  • Reto Walther: In the hands of the Mujahideen: Diary of a Sahara hostage . Publisher: Reinhardt Verlag, Basel; 1st edition, March 2009, ISBN 978-3-7245-1556-2 .

Web links

Commons : al-Qaeda in the Maghreb  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hamburger Abendblatt : Sahara hostages - war of nerves until the end of August 18, 2003
  2. ^ Camille Tawil: Libyan poised to succeed bin Laden. In: Magharebia . May 18, 2011, accessed May 21, 2011 .
  3. ↑ Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) ( Memento of March 24, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) United States Department of State
  4. ^ N-tv : After attacks - search for assassins in Algiers from April 12, 2007
  5. ↑ Die Zeit : Terror in Algiers, December 11, 2007
  6. ↑ Die Presse : Sahara-Geiseln: "No monetary claims" of the kidnappers from July 18, 2008
  7. ^ Tagesschau : German kidnapped in Mali is free again ( memento from April 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) from April 22, 2009
  8. ↑ star : Kidnapping in Mali: Al Qaeda murders British hostage on June 3, 2009
  9. ↑ euronews.com: Swiss hostage released in Mali on July 12, 2009, accessed on May 24, 2015.
  10. ↑ al-Qaeda snatched missiles in Libya. In: News Corporation . March 26, 2011, accessed May 23, 2011 .
  11. ↑ Markus Becker, Yassin Musharbash and Ulrike Putz: Smuggling from Libya: al-Qaida takes up Gaddafi's weapons. In: Spiegel Online . April 5, 2011, accessed May 22, 2011 .
  12. ↑ Terrorist attack in Algeria: four dead. In: nachrichten.at. February 19, 2012, accessed January 23, 2016 .
  13. ↑ The Persistent Terror Threat To The United States. Homeland Security Committee, 2017, archived from the original on June 22, 2017 ; accessed in 2017 .
  14. ^ Staff, agencies: French forces kill al-Qaida's north Africa chief in Mali . In: The Guardian . June 5, 2020, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed June 10, 2020]).
  15. ^ The actors in Mali: Islamists and drug traffickers. In: TAZ . January 13, 2013, accessed February 2, 2013 .
  16. ↑ “Timbuktu is in shock”: Fundamentalists destroy UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Mali , NZZ, May 6, 2012. Accessed February 2, 2013
  17. ^ Al Qaeda commander Abu Zeid killed in Mali: Ennahar TV | Reuters. In: Reuters . March 2, 2013, accessed March 2, 2013 .
  18. ↑ FAZ : "Threatened to the ground" by Islamist terrorism , August 19, 2008
  19. ↑ Terrorists take hostages in Burkina Faso: Fight for a hotel in Ouagadougou. In: tagesschau.de. January 16, 2016, accessed January 23, 2016 .
  20. ↑ Ex-Post boss Jean-Noël Rey killed in attacks in Ouagadougou. In: swissinfo.ch. January 16, 2016, accessed January 23, 2016 .
  21. ↑ Al Qaeda attack in Ouagadougou ends with 27 dead. In: zeit.de. January 15, 2016, accessed January 23, 2016 .