algiers

[assia]

I am going to algiers in august for one week is it safe in the north of algeria now I will be with two algerian girls as I am a woman also how is the terrorist situation there? I remember before that the south was meant to be safer than the north

[Terry Davies]

The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) ambushed an army convoy in broad daylight in the Kabylie region in early June, killing 12 soldiers and wounding another 16. A police official and two members of a paramilitary unit were also killed in that region on the same day.

A few days after the ambush Nabil Sahraoui, the leader of the GSPC, issued a statement saying that “The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat decides...to declare war on everything that is foreign and atheistic within Algeria’s borders, whether against individuals, interests or installations”.

Algerian government troops subsequently killed four suspected terrorists in the Bejaia district (eastern Kabylie region). On 20 June the Algerian military announced that they had killed Nabil Sahraoui, his right-hand man, and a "good number" of his other aides in a military sweep.

Two days later a car bomb exploded at the Hamma power station, on the edge of Algiers, injuring 15 people, four of them seriously. The authorities maintain that it was an accidental explosion, but eye witnesses have clearly described it as a car bomb, and the GSPC has claimed responsibility. This makes it the first terrorist bombing in Algiers since 1999.

On 28 June the Algerian army killed another GSPC leader, Ali Bournani, near Khemis El-Khechna, south-east of Algiers. Two members of his unit were subsequently killed in the nearby town of Ouled Salem.

The following day two civilians (who had been kidnapped two days earlier) were found dead in the Blida province. A fireman was also killed by a bomb concealed under one of the bodies.

The score is about 300 civilians murdered in the North so far this year, and several key leaders of the GSPC killed by the military.

It’s a lot safer than it was, but………………….

[PeterM]

The south is partially blocked for whatever reason, although "daily incidents" are mire common in the north.
Travelling with locals who know the actual situation is a good point, within Algiers the risk is more on the criminal side, save a bomb blast that might occur in Algiers as well as in Casablanca, Cairo, Amman, Istanbul...
Your plus: A single person (or small group) is no target to get media attention.

Regards,
Peter