Algeria Airport Bombing: A Reading into the Confessions of the Perpetrators

The Houari Boumedienne Airport after its bombing in 1992. (Getty Images)
The Houari Boumedienne Airport after its bombing in 1992. (Getty Images)
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Algeria Airport Bombing: A Reading into the Confessions of the Perpetrators

The Houari Boumedienne Airport after its bombing in 1992. (Getty Images)
The Houari Boumedienne Airport after its bombing in 1992. (Getty Images)

A bombing targeted on August 26, 1992, Algeria’s Houari Boumedienne Airport. It was evidence that the country was headed towards a confrontation between the security forces and Islamist extremists. The bombing was not the first attack carried out by supporters of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in wake of the annulment of elections which the party was on the brink of winning.

The results of the first round of the elections were annulled in January 1992, marking the beginning of what is known in Algeria as the “Black Decade” that left thousands of casualties.

The airport bombing claimed the lives of nine people and wounded 118 others. The mastermind of the operation was Hocine Abderrahim, former deputy head of the FIS that was banned after the annulment of the polls.

Abderrahim and a number of his supporters were arrested in wake of the attack. Among the detainees was Rachid Hechaichi, a pilot in the national carrier Air Algérie and head of the “Islamic Syndicate”. National television broadcast their confessions and they were also published in local newspapers. Abderrahim was sentenced to death in May 1993 and he was executed along with four others.

Asharq Al-Awsat is publishing a series of British government documents that shed light on the British view of the bombing that was based on a report by the UK embassy in Algiers.

The report was written by Charge d’Affaires Keith Bloomfield after the confessions of the accused were shown on television and before their execution.

The report concluded that there was a “growing shift towards radicalism” in the FIS that was eclipsing its more moderate movements.

“You might find it useful to have a more detailed analysis of the various revelations on TV recently about Islamic terrorism in Algeria,” read the report.

“Before looking at what those concerned actually said, it is worth asking whether they are the real terrorists, and whether their confessions are genuine. In the Arab world (and elsewhere) staged 'confessions' are a common propaganda weapons and, in the case of the Algiers airport bombers, the multiple links between the FIS and the terrorists look too convenient to the regime's purpose to be entirely credible,” it added.

“Despite the FIS attempts to muddy the waters (e.g. by rumors that one of those who appeared on TV had been dead for several weeks as a result of torture) the general feeling here is nonetheless that Hocine Abderrahim and his co-conspirators are genuine. We know for example that Abderrahim was elected as FIS deputy for Bouzareah on 26 December 1991, and we have been able to confirm that he was indeed in Madani’s cabinet,” it continued.

“As to whether the confessions have been subject to manipulation, the answer has to be a firm 'Yes'. Despite allegations of torture, the way in which the individuals spoke did not look like a classic torture-induced performance,” it noted. “The confessions could however have been extracted in return for promises of clemency, and there are some who believe that they were filmed with hidden cameras.”

“It is also odd that, while claiming responsibility for other previous bombs, there was no mention of the second wave of airline bombings on 23 September - a possible explanation is that the TV confessions were filmed before 23 September,” said the report.

“As for the presentation of the confessions, both on the TV and subsequently the press, this was undoubtedly stage-managed. All sorts of conclusions have been drawn, many of which are completely unjustified by what was actually said.”

The report went on to note that nowhere in the confessions was there: “any indication that the airport or other bombs were ordered by the FIS. (Abderrahim said it was his own idea.) Any indication that the 'mainstream' FIS leadership (as opposed to discredited former leaders) had any contact with violent groups before the January coup. Any indication that foreign governments, as opposed to individuals or groups operating on foreign soil, were involved in supplying money or weapons.”

“What is alleged in the confessions is that several armed Islamist groups came into being during that time of the FIS's legality, that there was coordination between them, and that four former FIS leaders whose membership of the FIS was suspended at Batna in July 1991.

“Are these confessions plausible? Hachemi Sahnouni and Azouz Zebda have both recently appeared to give evidence in court in a separate case, and have both spoken to the press. (...) In their press interviews, both deny Abderrahim's accusations.”

“I do not want to imply by putting forward these theories that the FIS is unconnected with the current terrorist campaign. Indeed, my letter of 7 September pointed out the growing radicalization of the FIS and the eclipse of the moderate Djaz'ara faction since January. But clearly, we must beware of taking the TV confessions at their face value. They are just one element in a fairly complicated picture and reinforce once again the dangers of talking about 'the FIS' as if it were a monolithic whole.”

“One spin-off of the confessions and the subsequent publicity has been a fair amount of new information about individuals in the Algerian Islamic movement. We are now systematically recording such information on a card index,” said the report.



Iran-Israel War: A Lifeline for Netanyahu?

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
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Iran-Israel War: A Lifeline for Netanyahu?

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)

The Iran-Israel war has helped strengthen Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu domestically and overseas, just as his grip on power looked vulnerable.

On the eve of launching strikes on Iran, his government looked to be on the verge of collapse, with a drive to conscript ultra-Orthodox Jews threatening to scupper his fragile coalition.

Nearly two years on from Hamas's unprecedented attack in 2023, Netanyahu was under growing domestic criticism for his handling of the war in Gaza, where dozens of hostages remain unaccounted for, said AFP.

Internationally too, he was coming under pressure including from longstanding allies, who since the war with Iran began have gone back to expressing support.

Just days ago, polls were predicting Netanyahu would lose his majority if new elections were held, but now, his fortunes appear to have reversed, and Israelis are seeing in "Bibi" the man of the moment.

– 'Reshape the Middle East' –

For decades, Netanyahu has warned of the risk of a nuclear attack on Israel by Iran -- a fear shared by most Israelis.

Yonatan Freeman, a geopolitics expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said Netanyahu's argument that the pre-emptive strike on Iran was necessary draws "a lot of public support" and that the prime minister has been "greatly strengthened".

Even the opposition has rallied behind him.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is my political rival, but his decision to strike Iran at this moment in time is the right one," opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote in a Jerusalem Post op-ed.

A poll published Saturday by a conservative Israeli channel showed that 54 percent of respondents expressed confidence in the prime minister.

The public had had time to prepare for the possibility of an offensive against Iran, with Netanyahu repeatedly warning that Israel was fighting for its survival and had an opportunity to "reshape the Middle East."

During tit-for-tat military exchanges last year, Israel launched air raids on targets in Iran in October that are thought to have severely damaged Iranian air defenses.

Israel's then-defense minister Yoav Gallant said the strikes had shifted "the balance of power" and had "weakened" Iran.

"In fact, for the past 20 months, Israelis have been thinking about this (a war with Iran)," said Denis Charbit, a political scientist at Israel's Open University.

Since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Netanyahu has ordered military action in Gaza, against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, as well as targets in Syria where long-time leader Bashar al-Assad fell in December last year.

"Netanyahu always wants to dominate the agenda, to be the one who reshuffles the deck himself -- not the one who reacts -- and here he is clearly asserting his Churchillian side, which is, incidentally, his model," Charbit said.

"But depending on the outcome and the duration (of the war), everything could change, and Israelis might turn against Bibi and demand answers."

– Silencing critics –

For now, however, people in Israel see the conflict with Iran as a "necessary war," according to Nitzan Perelman, a researcher specialized in Israel at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France.

"Public opinion supports this war, just as it has supported previous ones," she added.

"It's very useful for Netanyahu because it silences criticism, both inside the country and abroad."

In the weeks ahead of the Iran strikes, international criticism of Netanyahu and Israel's military had reached unprecedented levels.

After more than 55,000 deaths in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, and a blockade that has produced famine-like conditions there, Israel has faced growing isolation and the risk of sanctions, while Netanyahu himself is the subject of an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes.

But on Sunday, two days into the war with Iran, the Israeli leader received a phone call from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, while Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has held talks with numerous counterparts.

"There's more consensus in Europe in how they see Iran, which is more equal to how Israel sees Iran," explained Freeman from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that Israel was doing "the dirty work... for all of us."

The idea that a weakened Iran could lead to regional peace and the emergence of a new Middle East is appealing to the United States and some European countries, according to Freeman.

But for Perelman, "Netanyahu is exploiting the Iranian threat, as he always has."