The recent terrorist attack at an oil complex in Algeria that left dozens dead, including three Americans, has prompted one analyst to point out that the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound two years ago produced documents showing the former al-Qaeda leader was communicating Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a group that opposes the Algerian government. It would appear that the Algerian attack was carried out by an offshoot of AQIM.

Terrorism expert Daveed Gartenstein-Ross wrote on his blog, Gunpowder & Lead, that bin Laden offered advice and possibly other instructions to AQIM’s leaders as late as 2011, the year he was killed by American commandoes.

Some of the communiqués were nothing special, such as recommendations to plant trees to provide cover to insurgents from spy satellites or drones.

Other communications were more significant. bin Laden asked AQIM in spring 2010 to shelter an operative, Younis al-Mauritani, and give him 200,000 euros. Mauritani was later identified by Western intelligence agencies as a possible organizer of a foiled terrorism plot to attack several European cities all at once. He was arrested in Pakistan a year later.

A month before bin Laden was killed, he offered AQIM a specific plan for how the group should handle some French hostages it had taken—advice that the group apparently followed.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Al Qaeda’s Senior Leadership (by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Gunpowder & Lead)

What The Osama Bin Laden Raid Discovered On Al-Qaeda’s Links In Algeria (by Max Fisher, Washington Post)