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(SMH Australia) – Terrorists who laid siege to Amenas gas plant in Algeria also took part in the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed the American ambassador to Libya. An Algerian security official told the New York Times that three of the surviving terrorists said they were aided by Egyptian extremists who were involved in the September 11 attack on the US consulate in eastern Libya.
The Egyptians were reportedly all killed during the special forces raid on the gas plant and Hillary Clinton, the outgoing Secretary of State, said Wednesday the US was still investigating the link.
“This information is coming from the Algerian government related to their questioning of certain of the terrorists that they took alive,” Mrs Clinton said as she testified about the Libyan attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. She added that there was “no doubt” that the Algerian terrorists had been armed with weapons obtained from Libya.
The link between the two major terrorist attacks was claimed as it emerged that one of the Egyptian militants killed in Algeria was a former driver for BP who provided key inside knowledge. Security sources claimed that the attackers gained inside knowledge of the plant from an unnamed former worker who resigned from BP a year ago. He was reportedly killed along with 28 other hostage-takers.
Further information about the militants came as The Daily Telegraph uncovered a video of them training in the desert more than a year before their attack.
Algeria BP attack terrorists ‘also took part in Benghazi US consulate attack’
The attackers were led by Mohamed Lamine Boucheneb, who was killed on the second day of the siege by Algerian helicopter gun ships.
The nine-minute video, apparently posted on the internet by Boucheneb himself, features his “katiba,” or fighting unit, called the Movement of Sons of the Sahara for Islamic Justice.
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textIt is accompanied by a soundtrack of Islamic songs that extol the virtues of martyrdom, and shows 15 militants wearing camouflage clothing and turbans as they train in the desert driving four Toyota pickup trucks and a four wheeled drive vehicle similar to the ones described as being used in the Amenas attack.
Boucheneb is the only fighter whose face is not masked and he can be seen parading in front of his troops. A voice-over calls for the young people of Algeria to overthrow their government, pitting it as a tale of Muslims fighting imperialists.
“The Movement of the Sons of the Sahara opens the door for sacrifice,” it says in Arabic. “Your movement, O Youth of Algeria, is waiting for your support, to respond to injustice and aggression so the regime learns the bitterness of what is to come.”
Belmokhtar, Abou Zeid and Boucheneb opted for a joint action, the decision to strike oil sites dating back to 2010 [Translated from French via Google – Oui]
Algeria hostage crisis: the full story of the kidnapping in the desert
(The Guardian) – Some were shot. Others hid and hoped. Using survivors’ testimonies, photography and video – some filmed by the hostages themselves – we piece together the narrative of the four-day In Amenas gas plant siege.
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Satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows the In Amenas gas field in Algeria.(Photo AP)
