ALGERIAN POLICE CHIEF ASSASSINATED - NO TERRORISM

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 000184

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG - NARDI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2020
TAGS: PGOV PINS AG
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN POLICE CHIEF ASSASSINATED - NO TERRORISM
LINK SEEN

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission William Jordan. Reasons: 1.4 (
b),(d)


1. (SBU) Colonel Ali Tounsi, Director General of the General
Directorate of National Security (DGSN) and Algeria's top
police official, was assassinated in his office late in the
morning of February 25. DGSN sources reported to RSO that a
senior police member of Tounsi's staff pulled a gun at a
staff meeting at DGSN headquarters earlier in the day, shot
Tounsi in the head, and then shot himself in the mouth. Four
other senior police officials, including the chief of police
of Algiers, were wounded in the attack and have been
hospitalized.


2. (U) A communique from the Minister of Interior and
Territorial Collectivities issued the afternoon of February
25 says that a "demented" police official killed Tounsi at
10:45 local time, and then shot and seriously wounded
himself. The communique extends the condolences of the
Ministry to the victim's family, and praises Tounsi as a
valiant "companion in arms" who had dedicated his life to the
service of the country, the battle against terrorism, and the
modernization of the DGSN during the last sixteen years. The
statement calls on DGSN personnel to maintain the momentum
and dynamic shown by Tounsi in the service of the Republic.


3. (SBU) Embassy local employees observed normal uniformed
police presence on streets near the Embassy and in the west
and south of Algiers mid-afternoon February 25. However, RSO
sources in DGSN report general confusion at DGSN
headquarters, as well as a blackout of all DGSN radio
communication.


4. (SBU) RSO sources report the assassination grew from a
dispute over a corruption investigation in DGSN and was not
related to terrorism. These sources report the gunman was
Ouldache Chouaib (64),a retired colonel who had been
assigned as an Air Force supervisor in the DGSN. RSO sources
in DGSN report that Chouaib was meeting with Tounsi where
witnesses said they disagreed about penalties to be applied
to Chouaib. The same sources report that Chouaib was rushed
to a hospital unconscious after the shooting, but has not
been confirmed dead.


5. (C) Comment: Embassy deems reports from RSO sources to be
credible but cautions that all this information is
preliminary and subject to further confirmation despite
already extensive press reporting. We note that Tounsi has
been locked in a reportedly heated dispute with his putative
boss, Algerian Interior Minister Zerhouni, since last summer.
That dispute centered on a number of internal investigations
and a reputed effort by Zerhouni, who is politically close to
Algerian President Bouteflika, to replace Tounsi with someone
loyal to him. Such a conflict would play into the
oft-rumored tug of war between Bouteflika and senior generals
and intelligence officials who counted Tounsi as a loyal
steward of their interests. Although DGSN was recently the
one Algerian law enforcement agency that refused to cooperate
with a visiting ATA-ICITAP delegation, we do not know if that
stance was ordered by Tounsi, Zerhouni, or someone else. End
comment.
PEARCE