Insight into Algeria's In Amenas hostage attack

The confessions of the two detained militants who were involved in the In Amenas hostage-taking attack indicate that 30 militants took part in the operation which was planned under direct supervision of leader Mokhtar Belmokhtat. The group trained in Nigeria for two months before carrying out the attack, the detainees said. Informed security sources told Arabstoday on Sunday that the two armed militants who turned themselves in following the attack by the Algerian army wore explosive belts and preferred to turn themselves in. They revealed that the armed group responsible for the operation was affiliated with senior terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar [also known as Khaled Abou al-Abbas and "the One-Eyed Man"] They said the attackers hailed from seven different countries and included only three Algerians, one of whom was the operation leader, Abu al-Baraa. The sources said that Abu al-Baraa [whose real name is Abdel Kader Darwiche] hails from a poor neighbourhood called Tazzekka in the Takhemaret commune in the western province of Tiaret. He worked as a green grocer and became known for his hostile and extreme behaviour. He moved to Oran and from which he fled to Mali five years ago when he was being pursued by the police. He became a member of Belmokhtar's inner circle. One of the detainees said that the group involved in the hostage-taking comprised 30 militants from seven different countries: Eleven Tunisians, seven Egyptians, five Malians, three Algerians two Canadians, one Nigerian and another Mauritanian. He said the operation was planned over two months in Nigeria under Belmokhtar's direct versight. He appointed Abu al-Baraa as general supervisor, Abdul Rahman al-Nigerir as field commander and Ahmed Ben Shanab as coordinator. The same source said that 30 militants, three trucks and military-grade weapons [rockets and rocket launchers] were allocated for the operation and a plan was drawn to reach In Amenas by crossing into Libya from Niger and from there into Algeria.   The detainees' confessions matched over the goals of Belmoktar's terrorist operation: Capturing the largest possible number of foreign hostages and holding them in sites belonging to the armed group in northern Mali. They would then to be used as a card to pressure the western countries conducting a war on the militants. The group also had its eye on cash to fund armament in preparation for the upcoming stage of the conflict as well as causing damage to the gas complex. The brigade failed to achieve these goals on the ground. Algerian army forces killed 28 militants and arrested two, one on Friday and the second on Saturday. They handed themselves in after the Algerian army stormed the gas plant and tightened its grip on the area. Security expert Mohammed Shafik Mesbah said the detainees' confessions indicate that the composition of the Sahel area's militant groups were worryingly bolstered after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime and due to the repercussions of the Arab Spring and the increased arms smuggling into northern Mali. Mebah highlighted al-Qaeda's "progress" in recent years, noting that the militant group is now in possession of "very advanced weapons" that "shocked" the French army as it raided al-Qaeda strongholds in northern Mali recently. "The mélange that characterises the al-Qaeda in Sahel confirms one truth: There is a clear threat against all the countries from which these terrorists hail. The organisation's ability to attract and recruit such large numbers comes down to its experienced leaders, in the form of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who founded the Masked Brigade 20 years ago and has a wide range of connections in Niger, Mali and Libya," Mesbah said. "The rise of a Tuareg state extending from Libya to Mauritania through Niger, Algeria and Mali indicates the presence of various nationalities," he said.