As al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb[edit]
AQIM fighters in a propaganda video, somewhere in the Sahara desert.
In January 2007, the GSPC announced that it would now operate under the name of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
[20][33]
On 19 January 2009, the UK newspaper
The Sun reported that there had been an outbreak of
bubonic plague at an AQIM training camp in the Tizi Ouzou province in Algeria. According to
The Sun, at least forty AQIM militias died from the disease. The surviving AQIM members from the training camp reportedly fled to other areas of Algeria hoping to escape infection.
[34] The
Washington Times, in an article based on a senior U.S. intelligence official source, claimed a day later that the incident was not related to bubonic plague, but was an accident involving either a biological or chemical agent.
[35]
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is one of the region's wealthiest, best-armed militant groups due to the payment of ransom demands by humanitarian organizations and Western governments.
[36] It is reported that 90 per cent of AQIM resources come from ransoms paid in return for the release of hostages.
[37] Oumar Ould Hamaha said "The source of our financing is the Western countries. They are paying for jihad."
[36]
In December 2012, one of AQIM's top commanders,
Mokhtar Belmokhtar, split off from AQIM and took his fighters with him, executing the
In Amenas hostage crisis in Algeria weeks later, just after France launched
Operation Serval in Mali.
[8] Belmokhtar later claimed he acted on behalf of Al Qaeda.
[38]
A top commander of AQIM,
Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, was reported killed by French and Chadian forces in northern Mali on February 25, 2013.
[39] This was confirmed by AQIM in June 2013.
[40]
al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
