Mali: Algerian cited as 'key suspect'

  1. Posted on Friday 5 June 2009 - 09:51
    Murtala
    Image of Murtala
    Murtala Mohamed Kamara, AfricaNews reporter in Freetown, Sierra Leone
    Abdelhamid Abou Zeid,43, an Algerian who is listed by the United Nations as a 'well known' Al Qaeda member has been named by the Malian authorities for the killing of a British hostage Edwin Dyer. Hammadou is believed to be heading the Al Qaeda North African branch according to security experts.
    Mali map
    Abou Zeid, known as Abib Hammadou is being accused for series of hostage taking in that region among them the 2008 abduction of Two Russians tourists in Tunisia who were later set freed.

    Dyer was killed in Mali following failed talks with the British authorities to release Abu Qatada a Jordanian Islamist who is believed to have close links with the world most feared terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden. Qatada has since been held in detention since 2005 by the British authorities for his alleged links to Bin Laden, a charge he denied.

    Two unnamed Malian sources close to the investigation told the BBC on Thursday that Hammadou is believed to be responsible for Dyer’s death.

    The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown described the killing as “barbaric and appalling act of terrorism”.

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