SUMMARY
AQIM (Qaida al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Maghrib al-Islami; al-Qaida Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb), until 2007 known as GSPC (Groupe Salafite pour la prédication et le combat, Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat) was a rebel group active in Algeria. When the group split from the Algerian rebel group GIA (Groupe Islamique Armé, Armed Islamic Group) in 1998, it dissociated itself from the GIA practice of targeting civilians. Instead, it stated intent was to focus on Algerian security forces and other government targets. Despite this pledge, the group resorted to one-sided violence, but to a lesser extent than GIA. According to analysts, the group probably started targeting civilians when it began suffering more significant losses.
AQIM stated the goal was ‘to fight the rulers in Algeria that have abandoned Islam and their masters among the Christian and Jewish’. Particularly after the group changed its name from GSPC to AQIM in early 2007, it issued a number of threats against what it termed ‘crusading’ foreigners, especially Frenchmen and Americans. Researchers link this focus on foreigners to the pro-western policy of the Algerian government and its cooperation with the USA in the fight against terrorism.
Other motives for one-sided attacks named by analysts were to destabilize the country, to halt the reconciliation process initiated by the Algerian president, and to attract the attention of the media, which would enhance the recruitment of new members. In areas serving as rebel refuge, the group killed civilians to prevent them from talking to the authorities, according to researchers.
AQIM particularly targeted foreigners (mostly energy workers), ordinary citizens, including women and children, suspected informants to the government and former AQIM members who had surrendered to Algerian authorities, which granted them amnesty. Bombings, shootings, beheadings, and throat-cuttings were common. After the group changed its name from GSPC to AQIM in early 2007, it started using suicide bombings, targeting urban targets, and using highly sophisticated explosives.
It should be noted that the identification of the perpetrators of one-sided attacks was hampered as AQIM rarely claimed responsibility until 2007. The Algerian authorities did in most cases not conduct thorough investigations and failed to bring the suspected perpetrators to justice. Moreover, the members of western human rights groups were often denied entry visas for Algeria.
AQIM first became active as a one-sided actor in the UCDP datasets in 2004, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached on 30 April that year when the group killed 4 civilians who were plowing their fields in Draa Tria town.
