ATTACK ON CONVOY CARRYING CHINESE WORKERS

UNCLAS ALGIERS 000327 DEPT FOR DS/IP/NEA, DS/ICI/CI, DS/IP/ITA AND NEA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC PTER PGOV AG SUBJECT: ATTACK ON CONVOY CARRYING CHINESE WORKERS ¶1. On March 29 at approximately 20:00 a group of men presumed to be associated with Al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) attacked a convoy carrying Chinese workers employed by STIC CARC, a contracting company engaged in the construction of a highway linking the municipalities of El Ajiba and Bordj Bouarreridj (approx 100 mi SE of Algiers in the wilaya of Bouira). The attackers used crude handmade rockets known locally as "heb-hebs," from the sound they make when launched. No injuries were reported among the workers, but two gendarmes in a vehicle escorting the convoy were injured. ¶2. Chinese workers were previously attacked in May 2008 in the same region. In that instance, a roadside bomb was detonated as the convoy escorting the workers passed by. Several gendarmes were injured in that attack, but no Chinese worker sustained injuries. Police told RSO that the bus carrying the Chinese workers dropped off and picked up at the same time each day, taking the same route to and from the work site. ¶3. Local papers asserted that the same terrorist unit that attacked workers employed by the French company Razel and the Canadian firm SNC Lavalin in August 2008 was also responsible for both attacks against the Chinese. Security forces reportedly launched a search operation in the forested area near the attack site in an attempt to locate the assailants, but no further reports have emerged concerning the success of that operation. PEARCE