Of the 18 killed in today's suicide bombing by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, 16 of those were soldiers at the Algerian military academy that was targeted. And as we too often see, it took on the same old scenario of most al Qaeda style bombing attacks.
From the report at The Long War Journal:
Eight people, including including 16 soldiers, were killed today in a suicide attack on a military academy in Algeria.
The attack took place at a military academy in the town of Cherchell just as soldiers were breaking their Ramadan fast. It is unclear if one or two suicide bombers were used in the attack.
The first blast occurred outside the mess hall at Cherchell, according to AFP. As soldiers rushed out to aid those wounded, a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle detonated his explosives in the crowd of people, according to The Associated Press. Victims of the attack included 20 who were injured.
While no group has claimed credit for today's attack, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is suspected to have carried out the bombings. AQIM has previously claimed credit for executing several other suicide attacks in Algeria and in neighboring countries.
I believe that's a typo above...."eight" should be "eighteen." But as you can see, you have one explosion that takes out some of the soldiers and when the majority of the academy runs out to help, the second explosion goes off doing the bulk of the damage - al Qaeda's patented process of maximizing the kill ratio.
Suicide bombers kill 18 in attack on Algerian military academy
Eight people, including including 16 soldiers, were killed today in a suicide attack on a military academy in Algeria.
The attack took place at a military academy in the town of Cherchell just as soldiers were breaking their Ramadan fast. It is unclear if one or two suicide bombers were used in the attack.
The first blast occurred outside the mess hall at Cherchell, according to AFP. As soldiers rushed out to aid those wounded, a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle detonated his explosives in the crowd of people, according to The Associated Press. Victims of the attack included 20 who were injured.
While no group has claimed credit for today's attack, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is suspected to have carried out the bombings. AQIM has previously claimed credit for executing several other suicide attacks in Algeria and in neighboring countries.
AQIM has stepped up suicide attacks
Today's suicide attack is the third of its kind in Algeria this year, as well as the third since mid-July. On July 16, a pair of AQIM suicide bombers killed four people, including three policemen, in an attack on a headquarters in the Kabylie region, which serves as a safe haven for the terror group.
And on Aug. 14, an AQIM suicide bomber detonated his car bomb outside of a police station, wounding 29 people, including 11 policemen. The blast took place in Tizi-Ouzou, an area with a strong al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb presence. AQIM later took credit for the attack.
Prior to this summer, the last suicide attack reported in Algeria took place on July 25, 2010, when a suicide bomber attacked a security barracks in a village near Tizi Ouzou.
AQIM's three suicide attacks over the span of six weeks after nearly a one-year lull signals that the terror group is putting more emphasis on the terror tactic.
AQIM suicide attacks have tapered off since 2008. In 2010 there were two reported suicide attacks in the country; in 2009 there was just one such attack. In 2008, there were five suicide attacks, and in 2007, there were four such attacks. The most effective attacks took place in 2007 and 2008 [see list below]; during those years, suicide bombers targeted the prime minister's office, Interpol, the United Nations, and Algerian Special Police headquarters in Algiers.
In the vast majority of the attacks (14 of 15 attacks) from 2007-2011, the targets were the police or military. The exception is the Dec. 11, 2007 strike that targeted the UN offices and a court building in Algiers.
Since 2008, AQIM has shifted its tactics from high-profile suicide bombings to ambushes against security forces as well as kidnapping operations, which are reported to net the terror group millions of dollars a year.
The formation of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in 2006 was the result of al Qaeda's efforts to unite the various Salafist terror groups in North Africa. AQIM is comprised of the Algerian Salafist Group for Prayer and Combat (GSPC), the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group, the Tunisian Combatant Group, and elements of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. The GSPC forms the nucleus of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
While the GSPC has always had a very close relationship with al Qaeda, the terror group officially merged with al Qaeda in September of 2006. GSPC officially renamed the group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in January of 2007. "We had wished to do this from the first day we joined (al Qaeda) but we wanted the permission of Sheikh Osama, may God protect him. This obstacle has now been removed," according to a GSPC statement released on its website.
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