07/11/2002

EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09999

TERROR INSIDE AND OUTSIDE ALGERIA

The Algerian government has been struggling to end a decade-long campaign by radical Muslim terrorists, including the Armed Islamic Group. The terrorists have rejected peace overtures and are trying to topple the government. An estimated one-hundred-twenty thousand people have been killed since the terrorist campaign began in 1992.

On July 5^th, at least forty-nine people were killed in a bombing at a crowded open-air market in the town of Larba near the capital city of Algiers. Scores were injured in the attack. A second bomb exploded later the same day on a beach near a high-security area outside Algiers where senior government officials and their families live. Two people were injured in that attack. The bombings marred celebrations of Algeria's forty years of independence from France.

While fighting radical Islamic terrorism at home, Algeria is working with the U.S.-led coalition to destroy the al-Qaida network. Algeria has strengthened its information sharing with the United States and is working actively with European and other governments. As Francis Taylor, head of the U.S. State Department's office of counterterrorism, said, "Algeria is one of the most tenacious and faithful partners of the United States. Algeria has cooperated with us in every domain."

International cooperation has led to the arrests of Algerians linked to al-Qaida. Lofti Raissi (RAY-see) is under arrest in Britain for his role in instructing some of the hijackers who crashed a commercial jetliner into the Pentagon on September 11^th. Djamel Beghal (JA-mel beg-HAHL) has confessed to leading a group that planned to attack the U.S. embassy in Paris and other U.S. interests. Algerians were among eleven suspected al-Qaida-connected terrorists recently arrested in Spain. In April, Algerian authorities announced the arrest of Abdelmajid Dahoumane (ah-dell-mah-JEED dah-hoo-MAHN), an accomplice of Ahmed Ressam (reh-SAHM). Ressam is awaiting sentencing for planning a thwarted attack by al-Qaida on the Los Angeles International Airport in December 1999.

The United States wants to expand such cooperation. The U.S. will work with Algeria and any other nation that is committed to the fight against global terrorism. As President George W. Bush said, "We must find terror where it exists and pull it out by the roots."