Money woes helped Algerian al-Qaida rise

ALGIERS, Algeria, July 1 (UPI) -- Algerian insurgents, all but gone a few years ago, have grown into one of the most deadly al-Qaida affiliates, observers said.

Their battle against the Algerian military stumbling, the group sent a message asking for help in 2004 to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. From that missive, the deadly al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb developed, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

"We didn't have enough weapons," Mourad Khettab, a former militant lieutenant, said. "The people didn't want to join. And money, we didn't have enough money."

Today, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has fresh recruits and has adopted more deadly tactics. Gunfights with Algerian forces evolved into suicide truck bombings on targets such as the U.N. offices in Algiers. Followers kidnap and kill European tourists.

The group's growth, traced through Times' interviews with militants, and intelligence, military and diplomats, shows the Algerians' decision to join al-Qaida was based on practical reasons of money and followers in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

Some militants told the Times' the U.S. designation of the Algerians as a terrorist organization after Sept. 11 effectively turned the group against the United States.

"If the U.S. administration sees that its war against the Muslims is legitimate," said Abdelmalek Droukdal, the group's leader, "then what makes us believe that our war on its territories is not legitimate?"