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| Africa North |
| AQIM emir surrendered in Algeria |
| 2010-06-02 |
| [Maghrebia] Abou El-Abbes, the senior al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) leader initially reported as captured during a Boumerdes security sweep, actually surrendered on May 25th, Algerian security services announced on Monday (May 31st). "The surrender was made possible through the assistance of his wife, who managed to convince her husband to abandon the criminal horde and return to his family", an unnamed security source told APS. El-Abbes (real name Othmane Touati), a member of Al-Qaeda's Council of Notables (Majles al-Ayan), Law Committee chief and long-time "right hand" to AQIM chief Abdelmalek Droukdel, was responsible for co-ordinating terrorist operations in Algeria's restive Boumerdes, Tizi-Ouzou and Bouira provinces. His surrender marks the latest in a series of defections from al-Qaeda. Another terrorist, Grig-Ahsine Abdelhalim, turned himself in the same day as El-Abbes. The Algiers native joined al-Qaeda precursor GSPC in 1994 after escaping from Batna's Tazoult prison. AQIM medical committee head Mokadem Lounis, aka Abou Naamane, surrendered in mid-April, as did former El-Farouk brigade emir Ahmed Mansouri Ahmed, aka Abdeldjebbar. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 I wonder why they 'outed' him. Now AQIM will have to kill him to save face. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-06-02 08:22 |