Al-Qaida in North Africa Denies Responsibility for Car Bombing

Via FindLaw.com -

(AP) - ALGIERS, Algeria-Al-Qaida in North Africa denied Wednesday it was behind a car bomb attack earlier this month that severely wounded a former militant leader.

In a statement faxed to Arabic-language media in Algiers, the group said it did "not give the order for the execution of an attack targeting Mustapha Kertali."

Kertali, a former leader of the Islamic Salvation Army who has supported efforts in recent years by Algeria's president to end extremist violence, lost a leg in a car bomb attack in the northern city of Larbaa on Aug. 14.

"It happened without our knowing it," said the statement, signed by the group's head, Abdelmalek Droudkel, also known as Abou Mossaab Abd el-Woudoud. It said "firm instructions" had been given to the group's local cells not to attack former militants.

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Al-Qaida in North Africa = Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)