A university student skilled in bomb-making has taken charge of Algeria's largest Islamic rebel movement but the al Qaeda-linked group is fighting for its survival as the army pounds its hideouts and members surrender. The GSPC said in an undated statement obtained by Reuters on Monday that Abdelmalek Droukdel, previously thought to have been killed in combat, had been made chief three months after the death of Nabil Sahraoui.
| It took three months to convince him to climb into the barrel. That's a good sign. |
All the group's top leaders apart from Droukdel, 33, have either been killed in battle or arrested in recent months. "He's the last senior terrorist to have the stature to salvage the GSPC," said Mounir Boudjema, an expert on rebels and editor at influential daily Le Quotidien d'Oran. "He is faithful to Sahraoui's philosophy and membership of al Qaeda."
| "He's big into bloodstains..." |
The GSPC statement was seen as a rallying call to members, in line with the tradition of Algerian militants of announcing appointments or attacks in a bid to discredit authorities' claims to be winning their war against fundamentalists. Droukdel, alias Abou Mossab Abdelouadoud, is faced with unifying factions and halting the surrender of members as the army pounds key units in the mountainous Boumerdes province. The GSPC funds its activities through robberies and extortion, particularly in the province just east of Algiers. |