[ADN Kronos] Algerian authorities have arrested ten suspected members of an Al-Qaeda cell in an anti-terrorism operation in the past two days, news reports said on Wednesday. The suspects were arrested in separate raids in the Algerian capital, Algiers, and in the east of the country, according to reports.In the anti-terrorism operation in Algiers, police arrested six suspected members of cell linked to the Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb - the terror network's African branch. The suspects allegedly gathered "large" sums of money for Al-Qaeda which they had extorted from small businesses on the outskirts of Algiers.
Four more suspects were arrested in Stif, 300 kilometres east of Algiers. They face charges of providing logistical support to armed groups. The four suspects arrested in Stif are originally from Boumerdes, east of Algiers and from Bouira, southeast of the capital, and do not not have previous police records, according to Algerian daily El Khabar.
Algeria's national security directorate has put the country's anti-terror units on high alert and ordered security to be stepped up at checkpoints following intelligence reports that Al-Qaeda is planning terrorist attacks in the capital, El Khabar said.
Al-Qaeda claimed twin bombings in Algiers in December, 2007 that killed that killed 41 people and injured close to 200. The bombs exploded outside Algerian government offices and the office of the United Nations refugee agency in Algiers, killing at least 11 UN employees were killed in the attack.