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16-07-10, 03:21 AM
Al-Qaida Figure Makes Peace Plea
July 15, 2010
Agence France-Presse
A former senior member of an Al-Qaida linked north African militant group called on his comrades to lay down their arms in an open letter published Thursday.
Athmane Touati was a senior commander of Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) in central Algeria before giving himself up in May, security sources said.
"I urge you, my brothers, to reconsider your choice and examine the consequences and results of your actions over all these years," he wrote in an open letter to militants.
Publication of the letter in newspapers follows a spate of recent deadly attacks on the security forces. On Wednesday, four soldiers were killed in a bomb explosion near Tadmait in Kabylia.
"I have understood that I have taken the wrong path ... Islam is a religion of forgiveness, justice and peace," he wrote. He said he had been "well treated" since he handed himself in to Algerian authorities in May.
Touati's appeal is similar to one in May last year when three former officials of AQMI called on Islamists to lay down their weapons to take advantage of the government peace deal.
Touati was a senior regional figure with the Islamist militant Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat before it allied itself with Al Qaida in 2007.
AQMI claimed responsibility for a June 30 ambush which killed 11 Algerian border guards in the extreme south of the country.
It has also been linked with the kidnapping of western hostages in the Sahel region.
© Copyright 2010 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved.
July 15, 2010
Agence France-Presse
A former senior member of an Al-Qaida linked north African militant group called on his comrades to lay down their arms in an open letter published Thursday.
Athmane Touati was a senior commander of Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) in central Algeria before giving himself up in May, security sources said.
"I urge you, my brothers, to reconsider your choice and examine the consequences and results of your actions over all these years," he wrote in an open letter to militants.
Publication of the letter in newspapers follows a spate of recent deadly attacks on the security forces. On Wednesday, four soldiers were killed in a bomb explosion near Tadmait in Kabylia.
"I have understood that I have taken the wrong path ... Islam is a religion of forgiveness, justice and peace," he wrote. He said he had been "well treated" since he handed himself in to Algerian authorities in May.
Touati's appeal is similar to one in May last year when three former officials of AQMI called on Islamists to lay down their weapons to take advantage of the government peace deal.
Touati was a senior regional figure with the Islamist militant Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat before it allied itself with Al Qaida in 2007.
AQMI claimed responsibility for a June 30 ambush which killed 11 Algerian border guards in the extreme south of the country.
It has also been linked with the kidnapping of western hostages in the Sahel region.
© Copyright 2010 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved.