Algerian court sentences two al-Qaida-linked militants over terror charges

An Algerian court Monday sentenced two al-Qaida-linked militants, including one Libyan, to five and 15 years in prison over terrorism-related charges, local media reported.

The official APS news agency said the Algiers criminal court sentenced Libyan militant S.A. El Chairi, also know as Abu Loubaba Abdelghaffar, to 15 years in prison over charges of belonging to a terrorist group, intentional homicide attempts, forgery and purgery.

The court also convicted Younes Aoun, an Algerian militant, to five years in prison on charges of financing a terrorist group operating in the Tebessa province, near the Tunisian border.

The two defendants are linked to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and allegedly participated in 2008 in an armed attack against a municipal guard patrol in the province of Tizi Ouzou, 120 km east of Algiers, the source said.

Younes Aoun was arrested in 2012 as he transported his Libyan peer from downtown Tebessa to terrorist strongholds in neighboring woods. He confessed to both smuggling explosive materials from Tunisia and transporting militants from Tunisia to Algeria.

As for Abu Loubaba Abdelghaffar, he admitted that his ties with AQIM dated back to 2007, and that he plotted the armed attack targeting a municipal guard convoy in 2008 in Tizi Ouzou, according to the source. Enditem