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Algerian security forces reportedly arrested Hassan Hattab, the former militant leader and founder of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). The arrest, according to El Youm newspaper, took place Sept. 22 in the Hussein Dey district of the capital, Algiers, while Hattab was having Iftar dinner with a friend who had agreed to an amnesty offer from the Algerian government.
Hattab helped found the GSPC after splitting off from the mainstream Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in 1998 when the civil war was winding down. At that time, Hattab disagreed with GIA’s targeting of unarmed civilians and wanted to distance himself from the large-scale massacres that had taken place. Hattab then ran into disputes within the GSPC as the group was increasingly drawn to the jihadist campaign espoused by al Qaeda. He “resigned” (though was actually effectively deposed) as the group’s leader in 2001 and was succeeded by Nabil Sahraoui, who declared the GSPC’s allegiance to al Qaeda. Security forces killed Sahraoui in 2004.
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