The worst of the fighting was waged by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which denounced democracy and embraced jihad as the only means to power.

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There has been no terror attack on mainland France since 1995, when a series of bombings was claimed by a group calling itself the Armed Islamic Group general command.

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The alleged cell, he said, was "probably the most dangerous" France had seen since the Algerian-based GIA (Armed Islamic Group), which carried out a series of attacks in 1995-96.

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The French security alert follows a plan, codenamed Vigipirate, which was first introduced in 1995 following a series of bombings in Paris that were blamed on Algerian guerrillas of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA).

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He returned to Algeria as a hardened fighter with a new nickname "Belaouar" -- the "one-eyed" -- after his battlefield injury, and joined forces with the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in its brutal campaign against the Algerian regime and civilians deemed to be its supporters.

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He returned to Algeria as a hardened fighter with a new nickname "Belaouar" -- the "one-eyed" -- after a battlefield injury, and joined forces with the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in its brutal campaign against the Algerian regime and civilians deemed to be its supporters.

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Mr Kablia said that the kidnappers were Algerian and operating under orders from Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a senior commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) before late last year, when he set up his own armed group after apparently falling out with other leaders.

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Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said that the kidnappers were Algerian and operating under orders from Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a senior commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) before late last year, when he set up his own armed group after apparently falling out with other leaders.

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Officials said the detainees belonged to the Abu Sayyaf, a group of armed Filipino Muslims, who had trained with Jemaah Islamiah, the South-East Asian Islamic militant movement.

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