Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: Media Spreading Lies About Us

On May 14, 2007, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb posted a communiqué on Islamist websites, titled "The Most Recent Nonsense [Spread by] the Media," in which it denies various claims made about it in the media and calls on journalists to be more professional and accurate in their reports.

The following are excerpts:

"We categorically deny the [report]... regarding [the existence] of an internal opposition [within our organization] that objects to the strategy of martyrdom operations, and stress that there is accord within [our] organization... [In fact,] we hereby announce to the nation, as our Emir has already announced, that the list of martyrdom [seekers] is growing daily, and that the apostates and Crusaders had better start digging graves for themselves.

"We [also] deny the reports that 17 jihad fighters have been killed... We urge our Muslim brothers in Algeria and outside it to shut their ears to the hysterical lies which will probably escalate as the victories of the jihad fighters continue [to multiply]...

"We call on these biased papers to be more objective and neutral... and on every [journalist] in these papers who still has some honesty and professionalism left not to take part in this deliberate deception."