Algerian Islamist's son 'killed'

Algerian security forces have killed the son of former Islamic leader Ali Belhadj, a government official who asked not to be named said Thursday, but a relative said he was unaware of the report. The official said Abdelkahar Belhadj was killed on Monday as he was heading for the capital Algiers with a small group of Islamic extremists and that they were plotting a bomb attack. Belhadj's father had been deputy leader of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), whose armed wing tried to overthrow the government in a bloody civil war from 1992 to the early 2000s. "It's confirmed. It is the son of Ali Belhadj who has been killed. There has been DNA identification of the body" of Abdelkahar Belhadj, the government source said, when questioned about a newspaper report on Wednesday. But Abdelkahar's uncle Abdelhamid Belhadj, saying he was spokesman for Ali Belhadj, told AFP: "We are unaware of reports that he is dead." "The security forces already told us that they would let us know in the event of his death," he added. "We have had no phone calls from the security forces." The daily Ennahar, quoting reliable sources, on Wednesday reported the death of the young man, during a bloody incident about 60 kilometres (40 miles) east of the capital. Belhadj was "riding a grey Hyundai Atos" with two other people, one of whom was wearing a belt of explosives, the government source told AFP. "They all came from Algiers," the source said. They clashed with security forces who tried to force them to stop and shot at their car, which exploded, a source in the security forces told AFP. "Three soldiers were wounded," the source added. Abdelkahar Belhadj, born in 1988, in 2006 joined Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and took the battle name of "Mouawia", in tribute to one of the companions of the prophet Muhammad. "Mouawia" has several times in the past been reported killed, while he was sentenced to death in his absence by a court in Tizi Ouzou in northeastern Algeria on conviction of taking part in terrorist attacks. AQIM was created in 2007 out of the most radical of Algeria's extremist factions, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.