Canada will ‘recommit’ to combating homegrown terrorism, Foreign Affairs Minister

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Toronto Star

By Tonda MacCharles 

OTTAWA — Canada is not the only country to confront the problem of radicalized youth who mount terror attacks at home or abroad, said Conservative Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.

Baird, on a Middle Eastern tour, spoke to reporters by teleconference from Abu Dhabi Tuesday, the day after CBC revealed the identities of two young London, Ontario adults killed in a January attack on a gas plant in Algeria.

The CBC named Ali Medlej and Xristos Katsiroubas [photo], two high school friends, as the men whose remains were identified, and it suggested police are investigating potential ties to others in this country.

The well-coordinated siege — believed carried out by an Al Qaeda-affiliated group with insider knowledge of the plant compound — and the subsequent counterattack by Algerian security forces left some 37 hostages and 29 militants dead.

The involvement of two Canadians was first revealed by the Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal who said they were among those killed in the fiery military assault.

Baird, who initially demanded proof, disputed the notion Tuesday that he had challenged the Algerian government and insisted that Canadian and Algerian authorities were working co-operatively.

“We never said there weren’t Canadians, we never challenged the Algerian government, what we simply said was we didn’t have proof of Canadian involvement,” Baird said in the call from the United Arab Emirates. “I can say that our intelligence service and the RCMP worked closely with Algerian officials.”

“Canada is far from the only country that has had to deal with this challenge of radicalization. I think it goes without saying that we all want to recommit ourselves to do more to combat this real challenge that many countries in the west have.”

He specifically named the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden as western democracies that have been forced to confront the reality of terrorist actors within their citizens’ ranks.

But he declined to say whether the Conservative government had exhausted its legislative tools or had any other ideas on how to increase law enforcement surveillance and investigative powers.

“As these have just happened obviously my colleagues and I will discuss what to do with it in the days and weeks ahead.”

CBC revealed that at least one of the two London men were on the radar of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as early as 2007. Baird referred any other comments to the RCMP and to CSIS, saying he was not prepared to discuss it.

The RCMP again Tuesday refused comment, saying only that its investigation is continuing. It has refused to explain why it is not releasing the names of the dead.

Report: Two Canadians found among Algeria militants

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It's believed that two of the dead militants in the Algerian crisis are Canadian, driving the total number of people killed to 23 in a siege where extremists used rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. NBC's Keir Simmons reports that there are still an unknown number of Americans among the victims. 1

By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News

UPDATED at 10 a.m. ET: A Canadian national coordinated the Islamist militant attack on a gas plant where dozens of workers were taken hostage and at least 37 hostages were slain, Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said in a Monday news conference in Algiers. 

 Reuters had reported earlier Monday that two of the attackers found dead at the gas plant were Canadian, and Canadian authorities acknowledged that they were investigating reports of the involvement of at least one of their citizens.

The claim came as dramatic stories began to emerge from hostages who escaped the bloody end to the siege at the Tiguentourine plant near In Amenas.

The Algerian security source told Reuters that documents found on the bodies of the two militants had identified them as Canadians.

The militants had previously been described to reporters as a mix of Arabs, Africans and others from outside Africa. 

The report could not be immediately confirmed, but if true it highlights the wider threat from al-Qaida and other similar groups.

Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it was “aware of reports that Canadians may have been involved in the hostage-taking in Algeria.”

“We are pursuing all appropriate channels to seek further information and are in close contact with Algerian authorities,” the statement added. “Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms this deplorable and cowardly attack and all terrorist groups which seek to create and perpetuate insecurity in the Sahel countries of West Africa.”

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Expert: Islamists' Algeria raid could inspire copycat attacks

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DIGITALGLOBE/AFP/Getty Images

This satellite image provide by DigitalGlobe from Oct. 8, 2012 shows the In Amenas gas field in Algeria, which is jointly operated by BP, Norway's Statoil and Algeria's Sonatrach.

By Michelle Kosinski, Correspondent, NBC News

The audacious assault by Islamist militants on a gas plant in Algeria that led to the capture of scores of hostages could spark copycat attacks, a terrorism expert warned Friday.

Terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann, an NBC News contributor who has worked for the FBI, said that other groups would almost certainly be watching closely as the militant fighters led by Mokhtar bel Mokhtar seized the giant facility near In Amenas — and might be inspired.

"(Militant groups) are all vying for attention — for fighters, for financing. They see this, they see the attention it gets," said Kohlmann, who has written about the enigmatic bel Mokhtar in the past.

Bel Mokhtar has been called "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence, along with "Mr. Marlboro" due to his reputed cigarette-smuggling empire, and "a jihadist straight out of central casting" by the British press.

"This group has carried out similar attacks to this in the past. They've certainly taken hostages. They've launched attacks against gas fields and mines,"  Kohlmann said.

'Nightmarish scenario'
But what made the In Amenas raid different was the size of the plant and the number of hostages.

"It's the scale here that we're talking about that's astounding. Taking a group like this all at once… It's really… It's a nightmarish scenario, to be honest," Kohlmann said.

Algerian TV via Reuters TV

Hostages freed from a gas facility in Algeria, where Islamist militants were holding them, are seen embracing in pictures broadcast by Algerian TV.

A number of hostages have reportedly managed to escape from the natural gas facility in Algeria where hostages from 10 countries have now been held for three days, while some were killed and injured during a raid by the Algerian military and still more remain unaccounted for. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.

"Within the past year, he's given several different interviews and video recordings in which he's been very clear that one of the primary targets for his group are those who are coming to Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and are 'stealing our resources.'"

Kohlmann said an attack on a French uranium mine in Niger in 2010 has been linked to bel Mokhtar’s group. In that case, workers were also kidnapped and four are still being held to this day.

Thursday, the operators of that and another Niger uranium mine, Areva, said they were tightening security after tons of its contaminated metal used in the extraction of uranium were found in a public junkyard.

Bel Mokhtar is a veteran of the Afghanistan war against the Soviets, a conflict in which he reportedly lost his eye, and he was also once in charge of al-Qaida’s Saharan arm.

But he now runs his own gang, analysts say, and there are suspicions that he is now more interested in money than jihad.

"He fought in Afghanistan. He fought with al-Qaida in Algeria for years. This guy has been fighting in Algeria since 1991. Yet at the same time he's much more of a desert mafioso than anything else," Kohlmann said.

"He espouses jihadi aims. But he's very well-known for smuggling weapons, cigarettes, narcotics and of course these hostage-taking incidents where he's taken a lot of flak, including from within the jihadi community itself," he added.

"Some of them have said, ‘look, you talk about taking people hostage in order to get our prisoners released from jails, but then all you do is take ransom money and you let these people go.' … So, some of them have distanced themselves from him because of his attention and profit-seeking behavior, really," Kohlmann added.

He said he suspected bel Mokhtar was trying "to ingratiate himself to some of these other new jihadi movements in West Africa." 

"And what greater way than to do something like this where not only does he get a lot of media attention, but potentially he makes millions of dollars on ransom payments? And that's what these guys are really motivated by — money," Kohlman said.

Algerian opposition is mobilising for democracy

The Tunisia effect: Algeria democracy rally broken up

[AFP] Algeria democracy rally broken up

Several injured as police disperse 300 people who defied a ban and attempted to demonstrate in the capital, Algiers.

[AFP] Several people have been injured after Algerian police broke up a banned pro-democracy demonstration in Algiers aimed at pressing the government to overturn a law banning public gatherings. At least 300 people defied a ban in an attempt to hold the demonstration on Saturday but were confronted by dozens of police armed with batons, tear gas and plexiglas shields, Said Sadi, the head of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), said. "There are several injured .. and numerous arrests," he said. Among those arrested was the head of the party's parliamentary group, Othmane Amazouz, he said. Sadi said his party's headquarters in the Algerian capital's main avenue had been put under siege by police, describing himself as "a prisoner". "We cannot wage a peaceful campaign when we are under siege," he said, using a megaphone to address the crowd from a first-floor window. 'Violent regime' Ait Hamouda Nordine, an RCD member of parliament, told Al Jazeera: "[Algeria] is a violent regime, it's an anti-democratic regime and it is time for Algeria to attain credible and democratic systems and parties." The government had warned people not to show support for the demonstration in Algiers in a statement issued on the eve of the march, amid fears of popular unrest spreading from neighbouring Tunisia. The government warning, carried by official news agency APS, stated "marches are not allowed in Algiers" and that "all assemblies on public roads are considered a breach of public order". The march was planned "without authorisation", it said. Demonstrations are banned in Algeria because of a state of emergency in place since 1992. Tunisia effect The demonstration in Algiers came as protesters in Tunisia continued to demand the dissolution of the interim government that took charge after the country's authoritarian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was forced to flee on January 14 in the face of a popular uprising. Riots erupted in Algeria in early January over rising food costs and unemployment. Five days of clashes between demonstrators and security forces left five people dead and more than 800 wounded. The government responded swiftly by reducing the prices of oil, sugar and other basic necessities which had risen sharply, while buying up a million tonnes of wheat amid assurances that subsidies on essential goods like flour would continue. However, unrest still simmers and within the past two weeks eight people set themselves on fire in Algeria, although some cases were deemed to be linked to mental-health issues. Unemployment, specifically of the young, is a crucial issue in Algeria, a country where according to the authorities 15 million of the 36 million population is under the age of 30.