Algeria 'gives US terror list'

Algeria has been fighting Islamist militants for 10 years

By BBC North Africa correspondent
David Bamford

Algeria is reportedly co-operating with the US in the international alliance against terrorism.

State media reports that it has handed over to Washington a list of 350 Islamist militants known to be abroad and whom Algerian intelligence believes are likely to have links to Osama Bin Laden.

Bin Laden may have helped set up a militant group in Algeria

Tens of thousands of Algerians have been killed during a decade-long campaign by Islamist militants to take power.

Reports from Algiers suggests that for the first time security services there are prepared to tell the Americans everything they know about Algerian Islamists abroad and whether they might be involved in the al-Qaeda network established by Osama bin Laden.

Highly suspect

Sources in the Algerian government say the Americans are being handed two documents.

One of them contains about 350 profiles of Algerian Islamist militants living abroad.

Some will be moderates but others are believed by the Algerian authorities to be highly suspect.

Tens of thousands have been killed

The Algerians are also reported to be providing a list of 2,000 names of known members of the two Islamist organisations accused of killing civilians in Algeria - the GIA and the GSPC.

These militants are thought to be active mainly in Algeria itself though some may well be dead.

Common enemy

The GSPC, which is believed by the Algerian authorities to have been created by Osama Bin Laden, issued a warning this week that it will target westerners in Algeria if Afghanistan is attacked.

Security has been intensified around western embassies and businesses.

After meetings in recent days the Algerian government took the decision to give its full support to the American-led campaign against terrorism saying they were fighting a common enemy.

But the government has said any action involving Algeria must not take the form of a war against a country, religion, people or culture.