On December 11th 1960 there was a huge snow storm in New York City. It threatened to delay the opening of a new Broadway play called Wildcat, starring Lucile Ball.
Across the Atlantic, French President Charles de Gaulle had just arrived in Algeria, which was then a French colony. He did not receive a warm welcome because France then was locked in a vicious struggle with the Algerians for political and economic control. More than a decade after World War II had opened the possibility of independence to North African nations, the French were as resistant as ever to the idea. Thus de Gaulle was "welcomed" by huge pro-independence demonstrations that turned into riots that were then crushed by French police and army units. Scores died and hundreds were wounded on a day that most Algerians see as the real beginning of the finale struggle for independence.
This year on the 11th of December, al Qaeda in North Africa filled two trucks with hundreds of pounds of explosives and set them off in the heart of Algiers. One bomb struck the UN headquarters and the other the Algerian Constitutional Council building located on the 11th of December 1960 Boulevard. A total of 67 died and more than another 150 were wounded.
Al Qaeda likes the 11th for bloody attacks. They have conducted not only the 9/11 attacks in America but other attacks in several countries on the 11th. For example, the Madrid train bombings took place on March 11th. An earlier double bombing on April 11th of this year killed 33 people in Algiers.
This latest attack on the 11th may be a message to Algerian officials not to cooperate with the French. (French resident Sarkozy visited just a couple of days earlier.) Or it may be in retaliation for the recent arrest of a top al Qadea in North Africa leader, Bouderbala Fateh, just last month. Or it may be a response to al Qadea leader Ayman Zawahiri’s call in September of this year to ‘cleanse North Africa of the children of France and Spain.’
In any case, the 11th of December will continue to be known as a bloody day of ideological struggle in Algeria.
