ALGIERS, May 24, 2013 (AFP) Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the one-eyed Islamist reportedly behind Thursday's suicide bombings in Niger, is an Al-Qaeda veteran who was the mastermind of the devastating attack on an Algerian gas plant in January. Branded "the Uncatchable," Belmokhtar personally supervised the operational plans for the twin car bombings in Niger that killed at least 20 people, according to a spokesman ...

ALGIERS, May 20, 2013 (AFP) Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal on Monday broke official silence on the health of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, saying he is convalescing in Paris after a mini-stroke and was "never in danger". "I would like to reassure our compatriots on the state of health of the president of the republic... he was never in danger and his health is improving day by day," Sellal said ...

ALGIERS, May 19, 2013 (AFP) A 5.5-magnitude earthquake on Sunday struck Algeria's Bejaia region, 250 kilometers (155 miles) east of Algiers, injuring five people and damaging some houses, the APS news agency said, citing medics. "There are no serious cases -- the victims are mainly suffering from trauma," a medic said. The injured included two workers who fell from scaffolding when the quake hit, while anot ...

 by Beatrice Khadige ALGIERS, May 19, 2013 (AFP) Algeria censored two newspapers for reporting that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has fallen into a coma three weeks after being hospitalised in Paris, raising speculation on Sunday about his well-being. The newspapers, reflecting growing concern in Algeria about Bouteflika's health, said the 76-year-old would return home in a comatose state after his health ...

ALGIERS, May 08, 2013 (AFP) Algerian soldiers killed seven armed Islamists overnight in two separate operations in the restive Tizi Ouzou and Bouira provinces, east of Algiers, the defence ministry announced on Wednesday. Four Islamists were killed during an ambush carried out in Aghrib, in the Tizi Ouzou region, the ministry said in a statement carried by the national APS news agency. Soldiers killed anoth ...

 ALGIERS, May 05, 2013 (AFP) Algerian police beat tens of young people with batons as they protested outside parliament on Sunday about a lack of job security, and arrested several, an opposition MP said. "This morning, almost 200 young people gathered peacefully outside parliament to make MPs aware of their difficult situation. Police beat them with their batons and arrested seven of them," said Ahmed Beta ...

 ALGIERS, May 05, 2013 (AFP) Two Islamists accused of killing 500 people during Algeria's civil war, including the rape and murder of 60 women, were sentenced to death on Sunday, an AFP correspondent said. The judge sentenced Djilali Kouri, 32, and Antar Ali, 35, to death for "founding and running a terrorist group that killed and spread terror among the population and that murdered hundreds of civilians an ...

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2013 (AFP) An Algerian sought in connection with the "SpyEye" computer virus designed to steal financial and personal information was extradited by Thailand to the United States to face charges, officials said Friday. The US Justice Department said Hamza Bendelladj, known by his alias "Bx1," would face charges in federal court in Atlanta, Georgia, for his role in developing, marketing and ...

ORAN, Algeria, May 02, 2013 (AFP) An Algerian singer accused of poking fun at the police in one of his songs on Thursday was given a suspended six-month sentence and fined around 1,000 euros, an AFP correspondent at the court reported. A court in the western city of Oran issued the verdict against Cheb Faisal, 29, who was arrested last month after a complaint was filed by the general directorate of national ...

PARIS, April 28, 2013 (AFP) Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was in a Paris hospital on Sunday after suffering a mini-stroke, raising media doubts about his ability to govern less than a year before a presidential election. The 76-year-old, who has been in power since 1999, suffered a “transient ischaemia” on Saturday. This is a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain often called a “mini-stro ...

ALGIERS, April 23, 2013 (AFP) Jihadist leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who Chad said was killed in Mali last month, and four members of his group were condemned to death in absentia by an Algerian court on Tuesday. Four other defendants present in court were jailed for 13 years and fined 1 million dinars (10,000 euros) each, with another two sentenced to one and nine years respectively. Mohamed Lamine Bencheneb, ...

ALGIERS, April 17, 2013 (AFP) The Polisario Front on Wednesday strongly denied that Islamist militants fleeing the conflict in Mali had infiltrated Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, as African military sources in Mali claimed. "The Sahrawi government categorically denies... that fighters from the Movement of the Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO)" have entered Sahrawi refugees camps, the separatist gr ...