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Terror Networks
Algerian cops bump off head of GIA
2002-02-09
  • Antar Zouabri, blamed for some of Algeria's most ruthless and lethal attacks as head of the radical Armed Islamic Group, was killed by government forces after a two-and-a-half hour gunbattle. Algeria's most wanted man died in Boufarik, some 15 miles south of Algiers. Zouabri took command of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in 1996, pushing Algeria's civil strife to its bloodiest and most gruesome limits. The government says that, under his leadership, the group slaughtered thousands of civilians who refused to back its aim of establishing a purist Islamic state. The authorities also blamed Zouabri for encouraging GIA soldiers to kidnap thousands of girls for use as sex slaves in mountainous tunnels and caves.

    The GIA and another radical grouping, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), both oppose President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's plan to restore peace to Algeria by granting amnesty for rebels who surrender. A third grouping, The Islamic Salvation Army, disbanded after Bouteflika pardoned thousands of rebels in 2000. But the GIA and GSPC, led by Hassan Hattab, kept on with attacks.
    The world's a better place today. It's very comforting to know that he died shot full of holes with his face in the dirt.
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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