BRIEFS

CASE PENDING IN ALGERIA FOR GSPC MILITANTS WHO RECRUITED FOR AL-QAEDA

According to the September 25 issue of Algeria’s El Khabar newspaper, the Algerian government is planning on prosecuting two Algerians for recruiting insurgents to fight in Iraq. One suspect, who has only been identified by “S M,” was aligned with the GSPC and communicated with a man operating in Syria known as “Abu al-Himam”; it is believed that al-Himam is originally from Algeria. While in Syria, al-Himam allegedly collaborated with al-Qaeda in sending recruits to fight against U.S. forces in Iraq. As stated by the El Khabar report, al-Himam returned to Algeria in March 2005 and “was assigned by al-Qaeda in Iraq to pave the way for a group of Tunisian jihadists to join the GSPC to master the use of arms and explosives” with the purpose of opening a “war front from Tunisian territories against the Tunisian regime.” Both operatives have been captured by Algerian authorities. The incident, however, raises concerns over the role of the GSPC in Algeria and whether it is increasingly moving into the al-Qaeda orbit.