Top Al-Qaeda fighter reported killed in Algeria

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

ALGER (AFP) — Algerian security forces killed the deputy leader of the Maghreb offshoot of Al-Qaeda in a clash in the east of the country, newspapers reported Wednesday.

Zobeir Harkat, better known as Sofiane Fassila, was killed Sunday in fighting in the troubled Kabylie region, said the reports, which were not immediately confirmed by authorities.

Harkat, 32, was considered the main bomb-maker for Al-Qaeda in Maghreb, the former Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) which changed its name last year and pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

The media reports said he was believed to have been behind several suicide bomb attacks since April, including one while President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was visiting the eastern town of Batna early in September....