Operatives targeted by al-Qaida official

ALGIERS, Algeria, June 20 (UPI) -- Militant operatives who surrendered to Algerian authorities as part of an amnesty deal should be killed, an al-Qaida official said.

The Med Basin News Line said Friday that, according to sources, Abdul Malek Droukdel, chief of the al-Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, is concerned about information the al-Qaida operatives could give Algerian authorities.

The sources told Med Basin that Droukdel has put together a team of assassins whose mission is to kill the operatives.

"Algerian authorities have detected threats to some former senior AQIM members," one of the sources said.

The amnesty deal was offered by Algerian President Abdul Aziz Bouteflika, and scores of alleged al-Qaida operatives took advantage of the temporary agreement.

The unidentified sources said Algerian officials have already received information about militant plots from some of the operatives.

Droukdel has demanded that all remaining AQIM members renew their oaths of loyalty to the organization, the sources told the news group.