Algerian security forces are reported to have foiled an ‘AQIM-linked terrorist plot’ to attack international observers monitoring Algeria’s parliamentary elections on May 10th.

• Police arrested five suspected ‘AQIM members’ aged between 23 and 40 who were poised to launch an attack on a group of international observers in the Bir al-Jir area of western Oran province, local newspapers reported Monday.
• The plot targeted Oran because its masterminds believed most Algerian security forces would mainly be deployed in and around the capital, Algiers, during the voting operations.
• The five suspects are believed to be part of a cell belonging to Al-Qaeda’s North African branch, the so-called: “Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” (AQIM).
• Police also seized a substantial quantity of weapons and ammunition from the 5 arrested suspects.
• Islamists lost ground in the elections earlier this month in which Algeria’s main ruling party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), won 220 seats in the 462-seat legislative body.
• Voter turnout was higher-than-expected and reached 42.36 percent.
• The National Democratic Rally (RND) which ranked second in the vote tally, for its part, mustered 68 seats, while all seven Islamist parties only managed a combined 59 seats, giving the pro-government alliance a comfortable majority.
• The Algeria elections were extolled by US and EU officials as a step towards democratic reform, despite claims of ballot-rigging by the opposition.