ALGIERS, 6 June 2007 — The youngest son of one of the founders of Algeria’s radical Islamist movement has joined Al-Qaeda’s North Africa wing, newspapers reported yesterday, citing a video posted on an Islamist website used by the group.
The video made by the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb showed Abdelkahar Belhadj, 18, wearing a military uniform and carrying an AK-47 assault rifle, in a forest clearing with several other armed people.
Abdelkahar Belhadj is a son of Ali Belhadj, former firebrand leader of the now banned Islamic Salvation Front, which was on the point of winning legislative elections in 1992 when the military-backed government scrapped the polls. The government’s action triggered conflict between Islamist rebels and security forces in which up to 200,000 people have been killed.
There had been no word on the whereabouts of Abdelkahar Belhadj since he left home in October 2006. His father said he was not sure the videotape broadcast by Al-Jazeera TV channel was authentic and he was making further checks.
Meanwhile, eight Algerian illegal migrants trying to sail to Italy drowned off the North African coast and at least 20 other people are still missing, an Algerian newspaper reported yesterday. Liberte daily, which has good contacts in the security services, said the migrants perished off the coast of the border area between neighbors Tunisia and Algeria as they tried to sail a small boat to Sardinia late last week.
The bodies of seven of the dead were still in Tunisian hospitals, while that of the eighth had been repatriated by his family, the newspaper said, adding the group had set off without identity documents.
