Algerian attack was assassination attempt

CNN:

A militant Islamic group that recently renamed itself al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for two suicide attacks that killed dozens in Algeria -- including an assassination attempt on the country's president.

A statement posted on the group's Web site Sunday said Abu al-Muqdad al-Wahrani -- strapped with an explosives belt -- was unable to get past the security guards protecting Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika when he visited the town of Batna on Thursday just east of the capital city, Algiers.

"The martyr was not able to reach his target ... and detonated his belt amid Bouteflika's security cordon," the statement said.

That attack killed 19 and wounded 107 others, state-run news agency Algerie Presse Service reported.

Al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb also claimed responsibility for Saturday's suicide attack on an Algerian Coast Guard barracks in the port of Dellys, some 50 miles (80 km) from Algiers.

The statement said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi drove a truck packed with 800 kilograms (1,760 lbs) of explosives into the barracks, surprising some 150 military personnel during their "morning gathering," the statement said.

The Saturday morning attack killed at least 50 people and wounded 47 others, according to Algeria's state-run media.

Al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb is formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, a militant Islamic group waging war to overthrow the Algerian government.

The group claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in Algiers on the Algerian prime minister's office in April. Algeria's prime minster was not hurt, but 12 people were killed and 118 were wounded

...

It appears al Qaeda is trying to open an Algerian front in its war with the world. Clearly converting to Islam is not any assurance of avoiding attacks by the Islamic religious bigots. Democrats would be wise not to be sucked in by Osama's bait of conversion as an exit strategy from Iraq.

What the attacks do suggest is that Algeria can expect more attacks in the future. It will need to strengthen its counterinsurgency operations. The attacks do prove that those who claim the attacks in Iraq are because we are there are delusional. Al Qaeda always attacks to advance its objectives of a state run by religious bigots like itself.