AQ and Algeria
UPI – AQ now has another gateway to Africa and the rest of the world as well as someone to outsource training to:
Deputy al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said in a video that the terrorist organization has joined forces with an Algerian underground network.
The Algerian network has grown since 2003 from a small local threat to a far-reaching organization with cells around the world. Authorities have discovered cells in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. Counter-terrorism officials in Europe and North Africa have said the group has been training and providing fighters for the conflicts in Iraq and Chechnya.
Iraq and Afghanistan are likely too volatile to train those that Zawahiri wants for AQ “proper” – that is the organization he wants to be able to actually direct. Algeria will also likely serve as another door to the TAZ‘s (updated to include link) of Africa.
Also Algeria has the seventh-largest reserves of natural gas in the world and is the second-largest gas exporter; it ranks 14th in oil reserves.
-Shlok
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