The North Africa Journal: May 17, 2018: MEA Risk LLC reports that four more Islamic insurgents surrendered to the army in the province of Tamanrasset in Algeria this week in a series of surrenders boosted by the military call for amnesty for those willing to give up the insurgency. The militants who surrendered this week were identified as Mouaouia, Djaber, Abu Said and Abu Moussa, who joined al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) between 2012 and 2015. A steady number of Algerian insurgents based in Mali and southern Algeria are surrendering to benefit from clemency offers, after the military command reiterated the amnesty gesture earlier this year. So far this year, more than 30 militants turned themselves in. MEA Risk’s Critical Incidents Tracker says sweeping operations in Tebessa, Jijel, Sidi Bel-Abbes, Medea, Bouira, Chlef, Batna and Ain Defla allowed the discovery of 34 insurgent hideouts and 41 homemade bombs. There are currently more than 2,000 troops on the ground in Tebessa, in an operation to neutralize an AQIM group composed of a dozen militants. This group is said to have planted a bomb which exploded in a forested area, wounding one senior officer earlier this week.
