Security Situation getting better in Algeria, Interior Minister says

Algiers (January 3, 2012)-Security situation in Algeria is hardly better, Minister of Interior and Local Communities Dahou Ould Kablia says.

In his statement to the press, Dahou Ould Kablia added that the elimination of a key leader of a terrorist group in Tizi Ouzou (east of Algeria) called “Al Khashkhash” is a positive step in the fight against terrorism by Algerian security forces.

 The Interior Minister asserted that the elimination of the three terrorists in Akhdaria, Bouira (east of Algiers) proves that the security situation is going from good to better.

 Previously, Algerian police said Monday that they had killed an “important commander” and of a terrorist group near the village of Azib Ahmed.

According to the report, police ambushed Mohand Oummran and his right-hand man just outside the town of Azib Ahmed shortly after 4:00 p.m., firing on the vehicle and killing the two men.

According to the police source, who declined to give his name due to the sensitivity of the subject, Oummran and his “Al Khashkhash” group were responsible for a number of attacks on security forces operating in the Kabylie region.

Algerian Security forces also found on Monday a large workshop for manufacturing and storing explosives in the forest of Sid Ali Bouneb east of Boumerdes (54 km east of Algiers). It is AQIM’s main explosives stores in the country.

 The Algerian forces retrieved a large quantity of explosives that were stored by Droukdel’s fellows for use in suicide bombings.