In the dynamics of intense efforts provided by the various units of our Armed Forces in the counter terrorism field, and in continuity of the search and sweeping operation carried out in Oued Edouar forest near the commune of Beni Zid, daïra of Collo, Skikda province in the 5th military region, on March 16, 2022, detachments of the National Popular Army captured seven (07) terrorists and discovered the body of another (01) terrorist, wounded during the last operation conducted on February 19. In addition, during this operation, eight (08) Kalashnikov machine guns, significant quantities of ammunition and other items were also recovered.
Lieutenant General Said Chanegriha, Chief of Staff of the ANP, immediately moved to the area of the military operation, where he inspected, together with Major General Noureddine Hambli, Commander of the 5th Military Region, the military units that participated in this quality operation.
Lieutenant General, addressed on the spot the military personnel who “have shown courage and bravery”, saluting, on the same occasion, “this heroic operation”, before transmitting to them “the greetings and congratulations of Mr. President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Minister of National Defence”.
Afterwards, the Lieutenant General inquired about the working conditions of the operational unit, before giving guidance to their staff, while urging them to provide more efforts to preserve the security of the country and its citizens and to continue the fight against the remnants of terrorist groups with determination and pride in this sacred duty.
According to the same source, the terrorists captured in this operation were identified as follows: “Lesslous Madani, known as ‘Sheikh Assim Abou Hayane’ (General Mufti of the terrorist groups), who joined the terrorist groups in 1994, Betayeb Youçef, known as ‘Oussama Abou Soufiane Anighassi’ (Emir of the terrorist group), who joined the terrorist groups in 1996, Zerrouk Belkacem, known as ‘Abou Anès’, who joined the terrorist groups in 2005, Belaoui Mohamed, known as ‘Zerkaoui Abou Oubaïda’, who joined the terrorist groups in 2007, Zemmouri Abdelhak, known as ‘El Hadj’, who joined the terrorist groups in 2003, Ben Hmida Rachid, known as ‘Houdaïfa’, who joined the terrorist groups in 1996, Djilali Abdelkader, known as ‘Moussa’, who joined the terrorist groups in 2015. The body discovered was identified as that of terrorist Zouine Mohamed, known as ‘Mokdad’, who joined the terrorist groups in 1995,” the statement added.
The results of this operation follow those of the operation which, on 19 February, led to the elimination of seven terrorists and the recovery of six Kalashnikov machine guns, one sniper rifle and significant quantities of ammunition, leading to the extermination of this criminal group, which had been spreading terror for years in the region. These positive results confirm once again the determination of the units involved in the fight against terrorism to cleanse our country of the remnants of terrorist groups and to eradicate this phenomenon from our country.
