Algeria: No summer camps in some beaches

Algerian public authorities prohibited summer camping in many beaches this year following security reports that camps are likely to be used to recruit suicide bombers, according to sure sources.Security investigations showed that summer camps were used to recruit people to join the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) between 2005 and 2006, the same sources told Echorouk.

• Security observers believe that the GSPC’s command followed the method of the Islamic Armed Group (GIA) in training people in summer camps in Boumerdes province (50 km east of Algiers).
• The youngest suicide bomber in Algeria Nabil Belkacemi alias Abu Musab Zarkaoui who attacked a navy barracks in Boumerdes used to frequent a non-official camp with tens of his fellows in 2006 in the same province. In April 2007, he officially joined suicide bombers’ cell, a week before a first suicide attack was carried out in Algiers.
• Security map for summer camps to secure and keep watch on them
• Patrols have been intensified in some beaches in Tipaza province where Algerian migrants are camping.
• A security official said authorities know those migrants’ identities and they are collecting information on them.