CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Jazeera broadcast what it said was an al-Qaida video
Tuesday purportedly showing one of the three suicide attacks in Algeria last
month that killed 33 people.
Algerian policemen search a young man as they perform
security checks in a district of Algiers, Thursday, April 12, 2007.
[AP]
|
The brief video carried images of
equipment and wires being assembled, followed by a large explosion.
The pan-Arab television network said the footage was from al-Qaida's branch
for North Africa and that a longer segment would be aired later. The network
provided no details on how or when it had obtained the footage and it wasn't
immediately possible to determine its authenticity.
The video concluded with a bearded man said to be Abu Musab Abdulwadood - the
leader of Algeria's main Islamic insurgency movement - calling on young Muslims
to join his group and carry out suicide bombings.
"We carry the good news to our nation and our young people and tell them that
the list of martyrs is long and is getting longer day after day," the speaker
said. "Volunteers are competing to open this glorious combating door. Don't miss
out on (joining the) entourage."
The group Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for three
attacks on April 11 in Algiers which killed 33 people and wounded 57. Officials
said the bombings targeted the prime minister's office and a police station.
The attacks were the deadliest in the Algiers region since 2002, and came as
the North African nation struggles to come to terms with an insurgency that has
killed up to 200,000 people since 1992 but has largely died down in recent
years. The insurgency erupted after the army canceled elections that a Muslim
fundamentalist party was set to win.