'Shaddad' believed to be behind jihadist attack
January 22, 2013 13:10
Reporting in the Independent newspaper of London, Daniel Howden writes that Canada 'was investigating an allegation by Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal that one of its citizens co-ordinated the terror raid at the Saharan gas plant in which dozens of hostages were killed'.
'A French jihadist, previously unknown to authorities, and two Canadians are suspected to have been involved in the hostage-taking, and reports also claim that a man with a Western accent was among the extremists who lured terrified gas workers from their rooms during the hostage crisis,' reports the newspaper.
The paper further adds: Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal told reporters that a man, judged "by his English accent' to have been Canadian, was among the 32 Islamists whose raid on the Algerian refinery prompted a global crisis. One of the Canadians, identified only as "Shaddad', is alleged to have played a leading role in the attack which left 58 hostages -- including 37 Westerners -- dead after a four-day battle with Algerian forces. Five further Western workers are still unaccounted for. 'A Canadian was among the militants,' Mr Sellal said. "He was co-ordinating the attack.'
The newspaper also quotes a spokeswoman for Canada's foreign affairs ministry as saying that they were still seeking clarity on a possible Canadian connection to the raid.
'We are in close contact with Algerian authorities, but nothing [has been] confirmed yet,' the Independent quoted Chrystiane Roy as telling Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper.
Read the chilling report here.
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