[Maghrebia] A former leader of Algeria's Armed Islamic Group (GIA) claimed that his terrorist group killed seven Trappist monks in Tibehirine in 1996 after negotiations with French authorities broke down, international press reported on Thursday (July 9th). Abdelhak Layada's statements to El Khabar and other Algerian newspapers contradicted a French general's recent claim that the Algerian army accidentally killed the monks during the aerial bombardment of a suspected Islamist camp. Layada was sentenced to death in 1993 and released in 2006 under the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation.
Earlier this week, French General Francois Buchwalter - France's military attaché in Algiers in 1996 -- alleged that the case was covered up by both French and Algerian authorities in a bid to protect bilateral relations. On Thursday, Algeria's National Rally for Democracy (RND) condemned the allegations as a "biased campaign" against Algeria.
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