PROFILES OF ALGERIAN SUICIDE BOMBERS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 000523 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER KISL AG SUBJECT: PROFILES OF ALGERIAN SUICIDE BOMBERS ¶1. SUMMARY: Since April 11, 2007, eleven suicide bombers have carried out attacks across Algeria. Through press reports, we have been able to piece together biographical vignettes of most of the bombers, which offer an insight into their motivations and socioeconomic circumstances. What stands out from our research is that most of the suicide bombers were (a) less than 25 years old; (b) school-dropouts who had minimal jobs in the informal sector, including low-wage farm labor, or who were involved in urban petty crime and (c) had family members among Islamist extremist groups or who were recruited in prison. Information on the remaining bombers has been elusive, given uncertain names, DOB and family information. END SUMMARY. ¶2. Rabah Bechla, alias Sheikh Ami Ibrahim Abu Athmane, born in Bourj Manayel, province of Boumerdes. At age 64, he was apparently the oldest known suicide-bomber in the world. He lived in the village of Heraoua, about 35 kilometers from Algiers. He started out as an enthusiastic supporter of the governing National Liberation Front (FLN) in the 1970s. But according to one of his daughters, in 1990 the authorities denied Mr. Bechla a taxi license when rheumatism and kidney problems made it impossible for him to continue working as a vegetable trader. He was thus essentially jobless. He felt betrayed, after his father had died for Algeria in the war against France. A year later, Bechla voted for the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) as a sign of revenge against the regime. He joined the armed groups in 1996 and was a member of the Al-Ansar Phalanx operating in the province of Boumerdes. According to his family, Rabah was suffering from cancer. (Comment: al-Arabiyah TV network did an extensive report about Bechla and his family. They lived in modest circumstances in Boumerdes but the family's home was larger and more comfortable than lower-middle-class apartments in Cairo, for example. End Comment.) Bechla rammed an explosives-packed truck into the United Nations Office in Algiers on December 11, 2007. ¶3. Charif Al-Assemi, alias Abderrahmane Abu Abd Al-Naserser Al Assemi, age 29, native of Oued Ouchayeh neighborhood in El Harach, Algiers, a notoriously poor and rough neighborhood that was the home of other prominent terrorists. Four years ago, his family moved to another neighborhood, Hai Megnouch, a sprawling shantytown with rows of half-finished concrete houses. One of eight siblings, Al-Assemi left high school to work for a wholesaler, making deliveries to pharmacies. He was arrested and sentenced to two years imprisonment because he supported terrorist groups, as he was a member of the terror cell "Katibat Ennour." While in prison, Al-Assemi obtained a high school diploma. In March 2006, he benefited from the measures of the national reconciliation charter and was released in 2006, at which point he joined the maquis (went up into the hills to join the terror groups). He was also responsible for recruiting young men from the Oulad Ouchaih neighborhood to join the AQIM. A devout Muslim, Al-Assemi made two pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia. His parents told the press he was a polite and religious young man. He detonated his explosives-laden car in front of the Constitutional Court in Ben Aknoun, Algiers, on December 11, ¶2007. ¶4. Marwan Boudina, alias Mouaz Bin Djebel, age 28. Boudina was a delinquent known to the police services in Algiers. He lived in "la Montagne" neighborhood in the suburbs of Algiers. He was convicted three times for crimes linked to drug trafficking and was branded as one of the most notorious drug dealers in the neighborhoods of El Harach and El Maqaria. His mother described Marwan as a troubled child who left school at an early age and started working as a cigarette peddler to provide food for his family. Boudina began to excessively pray at the "Fatih mosque" also known as "Sheikh Amine" mosque in Algiers. Boudina had no interest in world events, he didn't even read or listen to the news. To his friends he seemed like "a lost soul searching for an identity." On April 11, 2007 he blew himself up on the Interpol Office in Bab Ezzouar, an eastern suburb of Algiers. ¶5. Benchiheb Mouloud, alias Abu Doujana, age 44, lived in downtown Algiers, a few hundred meters away from the Prime Minister's office. Mouloud was known to police as a drug dealer before joining the AQIM. He disappeared from his neighborhood in the heart of Algiers five years ago. A ALGIERS 00000523 002 OF 002 number of his family members have had trouble with the police. Mouloud has a twin brother called Abd Al-Razaq who is currently in prison on the charges of sexually abusing a minor. Mouloud's criminal history mostly focused on selling and consuming drugs. He was approached by former FIS members and GIA terrorists at the prison of Serkakji in Algiers. He blew himself up near the Prime Minister's office on April 11, ¶2007. ¶6. Nabil Belkacemi, alias Abou Moussaab al-Zarqaoui, age 15, lived in Bachdjerah, one of Algiers' working class neighborhoods. He is the youngest suicide bomber in Algeria to date. He studied at Bourouba junior high school in an Algiers suburb, but did not sit for his final exams because he joined armed groups in the mountains a week before the Algiers attacks on April 11. Belkacemi was considered a conservative but not an extremist. He regularly attended "Sheikh Amine" mosque, the same mosque that Marwan Boudina attended prior to his suicide mission. He was nicknamed al-Zarqaoui due to his infatuation with Al Qaeda in Iraq's Abu Mousaab al-Zarqaoui. On September 9, 2007 Belkacemi blew himself up at the coast guard barracks in Dellys. ¶7. Belazzreg Houari, alias Abu Mokdad Al Wahrani, age 30, was born in Oran. He stopped attending school in the 4th grade, and never had a fixed job or a stable income. He was never arrested or had any criminal record. Houari, who disappeared on October 23, 1995, is identified and registered as number 483 on the list of the "disappeared" who vanished during the 1990s civil unrest. He worked as a chief of security guards at a hydraulic company. Before his disappearance in 2005, he told his family he was going to Syria for work, but he never made it to Syria. On September 5, 2007 Belazzreg blew himself up using a suicide vest in Batna in a failed bid to assassinate President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. ¶8. Chibane Rabah, alias Hamza Abu Abderahmane, age 29, is a native of Legata town, province of Boumerdes. Rabah joined AQIM about a year ago. He stopped attending school at the age of eight. He never had problems with the law, and was liked by everyone in his neighborhood. During the day he worked as a farmer and at night he worked as a fisherman. He got married six months prior to blowing himself up. According to the Interior Minister, Rabah was drugged when he blew himself up at the police station in Thenia, Boumerdes, on 29 January 2008. ¶9. Kamal Mouhoune, alias Abdullah Al-Chayani, age 30 and native of Dellys. Kamal joined AQIM in 1998, and was reported missing by his family on August 9, 1998. Before joining AQIM, Kamal worked as a farmer. He has five brothers and five sisters. Kamal had an uncle who was also a member of AQIM, and residents in the neighborhood believed that this uncle recruited him to join AQIM. On January 2, 2007 Kamal blew himself up by driving a SVBIED into the Naciriya Police station in Boumerdes. ¶10. Mroush Kamal, alias Othman Bin Jaafar, age 32 and a native of Dellys. Mroush joined AQIM in 2006. He was never interested in attending school and stopped attending at the age of nine. On October 9, 2007, Jafaar drove and detonated an SVBIED targeting the French company Rezal, wounding several foreign workers. ¶11. Mouhamed Hafith, alias Suhaib Abou Melih, age 25 and a native of Bourj Manayel, Boumerdes. Suhaib's father divorced his mother when he was an infant. He lived a difficult life as he had to quit school at an early age, and worked on the farm owned by his mother in order to support his family. He had two older brothers (Farouq Hafith and Ahmed Fafith) that are members of AQIM. In early 2006 he joined AQIM. On July 11, 2007, Suhaib blew himself up by driving a truck loaded with explosives into the Lakhdaria military base. FORD