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Below is a nonexhaustive list of attacks that followed the 2004 declaration of war on foreign people and companies by Algeria’s leading Islamic militant organization, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which swore its allegiance to al Qaeda and became formally known as the al Qaeda Organization for the Countries of the Arab Maghreb in September 2006.



2004

• March 10: Abdennacer Abou Hafs, an imam from El Harrach, is assassinated for alleged collaboration with the Algerian security services; GSPC claims responsibility.




• March 16: Gunmen ambush two ambulances traveling along the Medea-Berrouaghia road. Eight people die and two are wounded. GSPC is suspected in the attack.




• May 18: Two bombs explode, killing two soldiers and wounding 13 people, including four soldiers, in eastern Algeria.




• June 2: GSPC insurgents ambush an Algerian military convoy in eastern Algeria. Ten soldiers are killed and 45 are wounded.




• June 21: A car bomb injures 11 people and damages the main electricity plant in the capital, Algiers; GSPC claims responsibility.




• Aug. 22: A bomb explodes outside Boumerdes. No casualties are reported; GSPC is suspected in the attack.




• Sept. 20: GSPC insurgents kill four people at a roadblock set up by militants near the village of Kalous, in Bouira province, about 75 miles southeast of Algiers.




• Sept. 29: GSPC insurgents attack a civil defense post near the city of Ain Defla, about 70 miles west of Algiers, killing six civil defense force soldiers.




• Oct. 22: GSPC insurgents are suspected of an attack against a vehicle near Medea, 50 miles south of Algiers, carrying fans to a football match in Algiers. Sixteen people die in the attack.




• Dec. 13: GSPC insurgents shoot an individual dead at point-blank range in Corso. GSPC’s motives are unknown.

2005

• Jan. 7: A GSPC attack against a military convoy at Biskra kills 13 soldiers and five civilians.




• April 9: GSPC is suspected of killing 14 people at a fake roadblock in Larbaa, about 18 miles south of Algiers.




• May 15: GSPC insurgents are suspected of ambushing an army convoy in the region of Khenchela and killing 12 soldiers.




• June 5: An attack against a military base in neighboring Mauritania on the Mauritania-Algeria border kills 15 soldiers; GSPC is thought to be involved.




• June 9: An explosive device kills 13 local government guards in a truck in Algeria’s Msila region, southeast of Algiers; GSPC is suspected.




• June 13: A roadside explosion 27 miles west of Tipaza kills three soldiers and two civilians, and wounds five others. The target was a government convoy transporting exam papers; no suspects are known.




• June 18: A homemade bomb explodes while police search the El-Djer area. The explosion kills the head of the Djelfa Judicial Police Mobile Brigade. A group associated with GSPC is suspected.




• July 18: Five police officers and forest rangers fighting a forest fire are killed when their vehicle comes under fire in the Ain Defla region, 75 miles from Algiers. GSPC is suspected.




• Sept. 1: The mayor of Ammal is killed by insurgents aligned with the GSPC.

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