Al Qaeda-Linked Group Used Google Earth to Plan Attack

Email

Print

Share

January 22, 2007 4:06 PM

A militant Algerian group linked to al Qaeda released a video of an attack it claims it carried out on a bus carrying employees of a Halliburton-affiliated company in Algeria.

Watch the video released by the Algerian group.

The video, which was posted on the Internet, shows how members of the group planned the attack using Google Earth, which provides satellite images and maps of different parts of the world.

The video, which lasts eight minutes and 40 seconds, confirms analysts' earlier predictions that the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), which has usually focused on fighting the Algerian authorities, is turning toward a more global jihad.  As first reported in "The Blotter," GSPC announced in 2006 that it had joined al Qaeda and pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

On the video, members of the group are seen making two bombs and detonators. A small bus is then seen as it takes an exit on a highway before it is hit by a blast.

GSPC had previously claimed responsibility for the Dec. 10 attack near Algiers, which killed two and injured nine, including an American.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

In the video, the group claims that the bus carried 25 people that were mostly Americans and says most of them were killed or injured.

It also claims that the company closed down as a result of the attack, but a call to the company revealed that it is open for business.

The video is similar in style to releases by insurgent groups in Iraq. Old video statements by bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al Zawahri appear at the beginning and songs often used in al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgent videos can be heard in the background throughout it.