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Head
Of Algerian Islamic Group Killed In Algeria
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| Zouabri, 31, who led the
GIA since 1996, was killed late Friday |
ALGIERS, Feb 9 (IslamOnline &
News Agencies) - The head of a military organization which calls itself the
Armed Islamic Group (GIA), and which is one of two main groups in Algeria's
brutal civil war, has been killed by security forces near the capital Algiers,
officials said, news agencies reported Saturday.
Antar Zouabri, 31, who led the GIA
since 1996, was killed late Friday along with two other members of the group in
a house in the town of Boufarik, 35 kilometers (20 miles) south of Algiers, they
said.
They were ambushed on a wooded
mountain road in the area around the town of Medea, a major center of the Armed
Islamic Group (GIA) , Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Zouabri's body was formally
identified by security forces, who said they found weapons and "subversive
documents" in the house.
The GIA, along with the group for
Salafist Preaching and Combat (GSPC), is blamed for frequent and violent
atrocities against Algeria's civilian population, in a decade of violence which
has cost an estimated 150,000 lives.
The two groups rejected an offer
of amnesty put forward in 1999 by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as part of a
national reconciliation program.
Zouabri succeeded Djamel Zitouni
at the head of the GIA after the latter was killed in factional fighting within
the group in July 1996.
The authorities in Algiers said
Zouabri's leadership of the GIA was marked by large-scale massacres,
particularly in Rais and Bentalha, in the Mititdja region, where hundreds of
people died in bloody GIA attacks in 1997.
The authorities in Algiers blame
the GIA for the indiscriminate killing of civilians and members of Algeria's
security forces. The GIA claimed a fatwa, or a religious edict, to justify the
slayings of innocent people. It said that Algerians who do not back the GIA in
its fight to overthrow the government are renegades.
Dr. Yusuf Abdullah Al-Qaradawi, a
prominent Islamic scholar condemned the killing of innocent people.
Qaradawi said, "Islam does
not permit aggression against innocent people, whether the aggression is against
life, property, or honor, and this ruling applies to everyone, regardless of
post, status and prestige.
"Therefore, it’s very
disgusting to see some people – who are Muslims by name– launching
aggression against innocent people and taking them as scapegoats for any
disagreement they have with the state’s authority," Qaradawi added.
He confirmed that in Islam, the
notion “End justifies the means” has no place at all. It is not allowed to
attain good aims through evil means.
Meanwhile, Algerian daily
newspaper Le Matin linked the violence in Algeria with political, and not
religious, conflict. The paper predicted that violence in Algeria would increase
as the country prepares for legislative elections, which is due to be held by
June.
Mohamed Issami, the author of
“The FIS in the Heart of Hell” told Le Matin that the coming elections will
only bring with it a war-like jockeying for position that will involve the most
militarized Algerian factions. They will be pushed by pressure to obtain a
maximum number of seats in the next government and parliament, he added .
The report of Zouabri's death
comes exactly 10 years after the country's military-backed government declared a
state of emergency, starting the civil war.
The state of emergency was
introduced on February 9, 1992. This was followed by a crackdown on militant
groups who had reacted violently after the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was
prevented from winning elections a few months earlier.
The restrictions, which gave the
army police powers, were initially set to last a year at the most. They have
been renewed each year as the civil war has continued unabated, with civilians
accounting for the bulk of the deaths.
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