Canada probes links to attack
Canadian investigators on the ground in Algeria have now been granted access to “relevant information” in their bid to get to the bottom of allegations that Canadians were involved in a deadly gas plant attack in that country, a government official said Sunday.
Access took a while because of the lack of a formal “legal arrangement” between the two countries, said the official, who declined to be named.
“Agreement was needed for Canada to be able to access the necessary information to validate claims that a Canadian was involved,” the official said. “Now that is in place, we’re able to gain access and more information.”
The breakthrough comes amid unconfirmed reports over the weekend that the man who orchestrated the four-day hostage crisis, one-eyed terrorist Moktar Belmoktar, had been killed in northern Mali.
Chad’s Army Chief of Staff Gen. Zakaria Ngobongue announced on state television his troops had destroyed a base used by jihadists and drug traffickers in northern Mali.
However, the French military, which has been leading an offensive against al-Qaidalinked militants in the region, had not confirmed the information.
Belmoktar, considered a key al-Qaida commander in the Sahara and Sahel regions of North Africa, was involved for years in the kidnapping of foreigners for ransom, including the 2008 kidnapping of Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler in Niger.
Late last year, he reportedly split from an al-Qaida affiliate known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to form an offshoot group dubbed the Masked Brigade.
In January, that group claimed responsibility for the attack at the BP-operated In Amenas energy plant in Algeria that left 37 foreign hostages and 29 militants dead, saying it was in retaliation for Algeria’s support of the French military operation in northern Mali.
Algeria’s prime minister said at the time that two Canadian nationals were among the band of Islamist militants who carried out the gas plant attack.
That prompted the deployment of a team of Canadian officials, including RCMP members, to the region to investigate.
The Canadian government official on Sunday said the claim is still unconfirmed. But “we’re working well with the Algerian government who have granted Canadian officials access to relevant information,” the official said.
The official declined to say what sort of information investigators have been given access to, but said it does not include passport documents.
Experts have previously said investigators on the ground were likely looking for access to bodies and identity documents but could run into a number of challenges, including fake identity documents, poorly collected evidence and badly decomposed bodies.
The official characterized the Algerian government as being “very helpful throughout this process,” a bit of a departure from earlier statements that seemed to suggest the Canadian government was getting frustrated with the lack of information coming from Algeria.
Early on, Canadian officials were said to have “summoned” Algeria’s ambassador in Ottawa to a meeting to press for more information.
Canadians has also been accused of involvement in terrorist attacks by Bulgaria.
Last month, officials there announced a Canadian passport holder was among the suspects in a Hezbollahlinked bus bomb attack that killed five Israeli tourists last summer.