Algeria detains 120 suspected Iraq fighters

Algerian authorities are holding 120 men on suspicion of involvement in the insurgency in Iraq, a newspaper reported on Thursday. Top-selling El Khabar said most of those in custody belonged to the al Qaeda organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, a group of Algerian Islamist insurgents that has carried out bomb attacks on police and Western expatriates in Algeria in recent months.

Citing judicial sources, the daily said the 120 Algerians were variously suspected of having fought in Iraq, planning to travel to Iraq to take part in the conflict there or of recruiting Algerians to participate in the conflict. (Reuters)