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