Algerian military helicopters killed Khalil Ould Addah a.k.a. Abu Bassen, a Mauritanian who served in a key position in al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, in an attack in Tamanrasset province. Addah was killed along with four associates as they drove in two all-terrain vehicles across the desert from Mali on their way to a meeting of top AQIM officials. A Syrian refugee was recently convicted in absentia of recruiting Algerian fighters for the Ansar al-Sham jihadist group in Syria. Several jihadist recruiting cells have been dismantled, but some Algerians have gone to Syria to fight.
