Algeria: Everybody's Talking

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November 3, 2007: Although the terrorist amnesty program brought in about 2,000 men, several hundred refused, and continued fighting. At least a third of these have died or been captured in the last few months. Last week, several days of operations near the Tunisian border, seventeen terrorists were killed and seven captured. Large quantities of weapons and munitions were captured, along with documents. This was a typical operation, with the detailed information on terrorist hideouts coming from a captured terrorist. Just as frequently, information comes from local civilians. This despite, or perhaps because of, terrorists frequently killing any civilians they encounter in the hills or forests.

October 31, 2007: Courts sentenced ten Islamic terrorists to death, and twelve others to long prison sentences. These kinds of sentences encourage many captured terrorists to tell all they know about terrorist operations.

October 27, 2007: Just on the other side of the Niger border, Tuareg rebels ambushed a patrol, killing twelve soldiers. The army denied that report, saying a few troops were wounded when their vehicle hit a mine. The rebels are a 2,000 man faction of the Tuareg tribes, who refuse to accept the peace deal with rest of the Tuareg settled for. Niger believes the rebels are supporting Islamic terrorists in the area, if only for the money.The rebels also want a cut of the cash from Niger's uranium mines. French controlled mines have been operating for years, and China will begin mining operations soon.