Judicial sources: “Investigation into Tiguentourine terrorist attack still underway”

A senior examining magistrate at the Sidi M’hamed criminal Court of Algiers, Rachid Allène, has affirmed that the judicial investigation into the ill-fated terrorist attack which targeted the Tiguentourine gas compound in In Amenas in south-eastern Algeria is still in progress.

Replying to questions from the press on the sidelines of a one-day seminar organized by the capital’s District judicial Council on Wednesday, Judge Allène said the issue of the deadly terrorist assault against the Tiguentourine gas facility with the taking of hostages, on 16 January 2013, was still underway, noting that a number of wanted suspects are still at large and are being tracked down by the relevant security services.

He further indicated that the final number of the accused has not as yet been finalized, while refusing to disclose the provisional list of the accused in this burning file, only saying that the number of people involved in this terrorist operation is quite significant.

It should be noted that the ill-fated Tiguentourine assault was carried out by a terrorist group consisting of 32 elements from eight nationalities (Algerian, Tunisian, Egyptian, Nigerian, Canadian, Malian and Mauritanian), and claimed the lives of 37 people, most of them foreign workers at the site and caused many injured following a prolonged hostage-taking which was finally neutralized by special ANP forces.