Al-Qaida holds Algerian official
Source: Agencies |
January 18, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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AL-QAIDA'S north African branch has kidnapped the governor of an Algerian desert region near the border with Libya, security sources said yesterday.
The abduction of the governor, the most senior Algerian official to be kidnapped in years, will reinforce worries that the overthrow of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi has created a zone of instability now being exploited by al-Qaida.
The kidnappers stopped a convoy carrying Mohamed Laid Khelfi, governor of the Illizi region, on Monday afternoon, took him hostage and headed towards the border with Libya, Algeria's state news agency said, citing an Interior Ministry statement.
It did not identify the kidnappers, saying only they were three young Algerians who were known to the authorities.
"All arrangements have been put in place and the appropriate resources have been mobilized at all levels to ensure the governor is freed as quickly as possible," the statement said.
But two Algerian security officials said the governor was being held by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, a group which stages ambushes, suicide bombings and kidnappings in Algeria and neighboring countries that straddle the Sahara desert.
"The governor is in the hands of AQIM, who have already contacted his parents," said one of the officials.
The abduction of the governor, the most senior Algerian official to be kidnapped in years, will reinforce worries that the overthrow of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi has created a zone of instability now being exploited by al-Qaida.
The kidnappers stopped a convoy carrying Mohamed Laid Khelfi, governor of the Illizi region, on Monday afternoon, took him hostage and headed towards the border with Libya, Algeria's state news agency said, citing an Interior Ministry statement.
It did not identify the kidnappers, saying only they were three young Algerians who were known to the authorities.
"All arrangements have been put in place and the appropriate resources have been mobilized at all levels to ensure the governor is freed as quickly as possible," the statement said.
But two Algerian security officials said the governor was being held by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, a group which stages ambushes, suicide bombings and kidnappings in Algeria and neighboring countries that straddle the Sahara desert.
"The governor is in the hands of AQIM, who have already contacted his parents," said one of the officials.
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