Seven security officers killed in an attack in Kabylia

ALGIERS - Seven officers of a company responsible for the security of a site of the company SNC Lavalin were killed in an ambush on Thursday morning in Tizi Ouzou in Kabylia (110 km east of Algiers), the most serious attack in Algeria since late July, said the Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni.

•     "Indeed, seven patriots were killed. They were part of the team that watched over the safety of the construction of a dam pumping water to the inhabitants of the region," said Zerhouni.
  
      The officers killed were in a van when gunmen opened fire at 07 am on the vehicle near Maatkas, 25 km south of Tizi Ouzou in Kabylia, killing them instantly.
  
      A security officer and the bus driver were seriously injured and have been hospitalized in the nearby town of Boghni, according to local sources.
  
      The van was travelling to a base camp in the region close to Ouadhias, where officers would escort employees of SNC Lavalin to work in the region.
  
      SNC Lavalin is responsible for building a network of potable water supply for the southern region of Tizi Ouzou from Koudiet Acerdoune dam, located in Bouira.
  
      "We obviously find it extremely sad. In fact, the employees (agents killed) were not our employees but were hired by the client (National Agency for dams and transfers)," said Leslie Quinton, a spokesman for Montreal SNC Lavalin.
  
      This attack, not claimed, took place after more than two months of relative calm.
  
      The last major action of armed terrorists was in late July. They then attacked a military convoy near Tipaza, a resort 70 km west of Algiers, killing at least 11 soldiers. The attack was claimed by the ex-GSPC (Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat) GSPC which became in 2009 the Branch of Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.
  
      Since then, the army has launched numerous operations in several regions to sweep the bush where the attackers took refuge after their attacks, with thousands of men supported by artillery and helicopter gunships.
  
      Since early October, the Algerian security services have killed dozens of terrorists including Abu Bilal Adnane, number two in the western area of AQIM.
  
      Since the beginning of the year too, many terrorists surrendered and networks of support to armed groups dismantled.
  
      The "emir of the main branches of AQIM, Ali Bentouati alias Abu Tamimi, surrendered to the authorities in late January in Tizi Ouzou after an appeal by Hassan Hattab, former leader and founder of the GSPC, who himself surrendered to the authorities in September 2007.
  
      Minister Yazid Zerhouni had said in late June that the numbers of armed groups still active in Algeria was "very small".
  
      Ennaharonline/ M. O.