French holds 5 al Qaeda suspects

PARIS – French authorities were holding five men suspected of links to the al Qaeda branch that was behind a deadly bombing at UN offices in Algeria last week, a police official said Thursday.

The men, who are suspected of providing logistical support to al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa, were rounded up for questioning Tuesday in the Paris area and near the Normandy city of Rouen. Three other men who were also questioned in the case have been released, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.The five men still in custody were being held at the headquarters of the DST counterintelligence service, the official said.The DST’s operation was based on a request from an anti-terrorism judge who suspected the men of providing computers and telecommunications material to the Algerian terror group.Police seized computers as they searched the men’s homes, the official said.The suspects were North African and French.Le Figaro newspaper reported that the men, all in their 30s, had police records and had been under surveillance.Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for twin truck bombings of the UN offices and an Algerian government building Dec.11 that killed at least 37 people, including 17 UN staff members.There was nothing to suggest the men arrested in France had any direct involvement in the suicide bombings, the police official said, adding that they were not suspected of planning attacks in France.Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa is the new incarnation of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, or GSPC, Algeria’s last remaining insurgent group.In recent years, Algeria had largely turned the page on its jihadist movement, which dates back to the early 1990s.Nampa-APThree other men who were also questioned in the case have been released, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.The five men still in custody were being held at the headquarters of the DST counterintelligence service, the official said.The DST’s operation was based on a request from an anti-terrorism judge who suspected the men of providing computers and telecommunications material to the Algerian terror group.Police seized computers as they searched the men’s homes, the official said.The suspects were North African and French.Le Figaro newspaper reported that the men, all in their 30s, had police records and had been under surveillance.Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for twin truck bombings of the UN offices and an Algerian government building Dec.11 that killed at least 37 people, including 17 UN staff members.There was nothing to suggest the men arrested in France had any direct involvement in the suicide bombings, the police official said, adding that they were not suspected of planning attacks in France.Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa is the new incarnation of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, or GSPC, Algeria’s last remaining insurgent group.In recent years, Algeria had largely turned the page on its jihadist movement, which dates back to the early 1990s.Nampa-AP