The Algerian authorities announced Monday they have disbanded most of the local Al-Qa’ida organization, the Algerian daily Al-Khabar reported.
"Most of the Al-Qa’ida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb in Algeria (the former Salafist Group for Call and Combat – GSPC), which has taken responsibility for the bombings in Boumardas, Ein A-Dufla, the Government’s Palace, Bab A-Zawwar and Qasantina, is now dismembered," the Algerian Interior Minister Bour A-Din Zarhouni told reporters on Monday.
According to Zarhouni, the majority of QOIM’s cadres and leaders are known to the security authorities, including QOIM leader Abu Mu’sab ‘Abd Al-Wudoud. Many of them are also under arrest, the minister added.
The GSPC has transformed itself into QOIM earlier this year, pledging allegiance to Osama Bin Laden. A recent wave of terror attacks in Algeria has claimed the lives of 33 people and has led a number of former GSPC leaders and cadres to publicly denounce these tactics.
Though not a political party, QOIM has recently interfered in local politics, when its leader called on the Algerian people to boycott the May 17 parliamentary elections.
The elections were described by Abu Mu’sab as a "mockery." He called on the Algerian people to join him in the path of "holy war and sacrifice for the sake of Allah."