Algerian security official: We have thwarted planned terror attacks

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Algerian security services have thwarted a possible Sept. 11 terrorist attack in eastern Algeria, a security official and local media reported Thursday, as thousands of army troops and police conducted anti-terror sweeps throughout the North African country. Several Algerian newspapers reported that a terrorist group was planning suicide bombings Thursday against a market, a police station and a security regional headquarters in the eastern town of El Oued near the border with Libya. The town is 650 kilometers southeast of the Algerian capital. Police were tipped off last week after the arrest of a senior militant who carried a map of the targets and a list of would-be suicide bombers, said Linda Nacer, a journalist with the respected Liberte newspaper. A security official confirmed the arrest of the militant and said the target date for the suspected plot appeared to have been Thursday because of the symbolic value of a bombing on Sept. 11. The Algerian government would not confirm the arrest or anything about the suspected plot.