AQIM Confirms Death of Senior Leader in Algeria

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) confirmed that the Algerian army has killed one of its senior officials, Adel Seghiri also known as Abu Ruwaha al-Qasantini.

The Al Qaeda official was among those running the group’s Al-Andalus media wing, responsible for publishing propaganda videos and statements.

Last Week the Algerian army announced the killing of “two dangerous terrorists” in the Jijel region, 400 kilometers east of the capital Algiers.

Seghiri was an active member of militant groups since the 1990s. He had been severely injured in confrontations with the Algerian army in 1996 and became the terrorist organization’s propagandist in 2013, the group said.

The death of Seghiri deals a blow to the terrorist group, which has staged kidnappings and attacks across Africa’s Sahel and Maghreb regions.

On Sunday, the Algerian defense ministry said in a statement that terrorist Hajj Quwaider known as al-Shaanbi surrendered to the army in the southern region of Tamanrasset.

Bilel Kobi, the special envoy of the Emir of AQIM Abdelmalek Droukdel in Tunisia, and Bashir Ben Neji, emir of a group in Tunisia, were shot dead by the Tunisian military in January

Paralyzed and divided by the Algerian army, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb cuts and runs to Tunisia, Libya and the Sahel taking advantage of porous borders and lucrative smuggling and trafficking activities in connivance with other criminal gangs.

In an April 2017 interview for Inspire, the propaganda sheet of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Droukdel painted a gloomy picture saying “We are bogged down in a long war. The Algerian front suffers from scarcity, and sometimes an almost complete lack of support – inside and out.”