Ali Benhadj’s Son among Eliminated Suicide Bombers, Official

DNA tests performed on one of the three suicide bombers whose attempt was foiled by security services last Monday, revealed that he is the son of the senior chief of dissolved FIS party, Ali Benhadj.

Abdelkahar Benhadj was among the three suicide bombers whose bodies were burned when they blew themselves up when they were intercepted in a police checkpoint. 

AFP has quoted on Thursday a government official, who asked not to be named, as saying that the DNA tests endured on one of the three dead bodies revealed it belongs to Abdelkahar Benhadj, who joined the fiefs of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in later 2006. 

The government-run TV channel aired the official version of the explosion which occurred in the locality of Thenia, Boumerdes province, saying that “three terrorists wearing explosive belts on board of a car were heading up to Algiers to perpetuate suicide attacks.”

The source added that a relative member of one of the three potential suicide bombers had notified the security forces about the attack, enabling them to set up a checkpoint to intercept the bomb car on the road leading to Algiers.

 When the target arrived, the driver rejected to stop, and then the three terrorists blew themselves up, the TV added, without providing further details on any casualties or damages among the security services present in the explosion spot. 

The source said forensics has identified only one body, namely Abdelkahar Benhadj, while analyses are still underway to identify the two other terrorists. 

Investigators are working on to finding out the spots that the terrorists were targeting, and the quantity of the explosives carried on their car.