The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb Claims Responsibility for the Attempted Assassination of President Bouteflika and the Attack on the Dellys Barracks
In a communiqué posted on September 8, 2007 on the Islamist website al-ekhlaas.org, which is hosted by Layered Technologies Inc. in Texas, the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the September 6 suicide bombing in Batna (eastern Algeria), which the group confirmed was an attempt to assassinate Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, as well as the September 8, 2007 attack on a military installation in Dellys. Following are excerpts from the communiqué:
"…Here are the knights of martyrdom and the desirers of the virgins vying for Paradise, going out once more in desire of death and its precious treasures; and here are the castles of apostasy and the spies' nests groaning under the blows of the mujahideen, who summoned resolve to defend the Islamic nation and the religion of Islam, which is being fought by the lurking forces of evil.
"In this communiqué we bring good tidings to our Muslim brothers: the carrying out of two consecutive martyrdom operations…"
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The communiqué gives the name of the Dellys bomber as Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi Al-'Asimi, saying that he drove a truck loaded with 800 kg of explosives into a crowd of marines at the Dellys barracks, killing at least 31 "apostates" and wounding more than 60 and completely destroying the barracks.
The name of the Batna bomber was given as Abu Miqdad Al-Wahrani. The communiqué said that his target was Bouteflika, but that when he saw that he could not reach his target, he set off his explosives belt among the members of the president's guard. The group denied official media reports concerning the death of civilians in the attack, saying that most of the victims were from the security forces.
The communiqué ended with a warning to "the apostates and their Crusader masters": "By Allah, our swords will be drawn and our gun barrels carried on our shoulders until you stop aiding the Crusaders in their declared war, until you implement the abandoned Islamic shari'a, and until you stop your war on Allah's religion…"
