2008 in Algeria - August

August

• August 5: The North African wing of Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a car bomb which wounded 25 people, including 4 policemen, in Tizi Ouzou. The bomb exploded near a police station. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb identified the bomber as Makhlouf Abou Mariam. His truck carried 600 kg. of an unspecified explosive.

• August 10: A suicide bombing in Zemmouri Al Bahri killed at least eight people. The coastal town is 45 kilometers from Algiers.

• August 11: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held talks with Bouteflika on ways to expand bilateral relations between Iran and Algeria. Among many issues the two discussed the formation of an OPEC type gas group.

• August 11: The Protestant Church of Algeria debated whether to obey government orders which have closed more than fifty Protestant Churches in the country during the past six months.

• August 22: The North African branch of Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for attacks on a police academy, a military barracks, and a Canadian engineering firm. These were retaliatory actions against security forces which had killed a number of young Mujahedeen or holy warriors. Salah Abu Mohammad, an Al Qaeda spokesman, delivered a taped message to the Al Jazeera news channel. The attacks claimed up to sixty lives in Algeria.

• August 30: Islamic militants beheaded a patron of a bootleg bar in the town of Boghni, near Tizi Ouzou on August 29. The terrorists were disguised as police officers and murdered the man because he was a prison guard. Other bar patons were robbed by the members of the group. An Algerian -born emigrant was kidnapped in an attempt to win ransom. It is uncertain whether the militants targeted the bar because it served alcohol or they just wanted to rob it.