Within the dynamics of the intense efforts made by the various units of our Armed Forces in their fight against terrorism, and in continuity with the operation of search and racketing carried out in the forest of Oued Edouar near Beni Zid , daira of Collo, wilaya of Skikda - 5th Military Region, detachments of the People's National Army captured, on 16th March 2022, seven (07) terrorists and discovered the inanimate body of another one (01), probably injured during the last operation carried out on 19th February. Eight (08) Kalashnikov-type submachine guns, considerable quantities of ammunition, various effects were also recovered.


      To this end, Lieutenant General Saïd CHANEGRIHA, Chief of Staff of the People's National Army, immediately went there, he then inspected, along with Major General Noureddine HAMBLI, Commander of the 5th Military Region, the military units that took part in this quality operation.

      The Lieutenant General, spoke on the scene to the military personnel who showed courage and bravery, he also saluted on the occasion, this laudable operation, before conveying the greetings and congratulations of the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid TEBBOUNE, Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces, Minister of National Defence to them.
      Subsequently, Lieutenant General inquired about the working conditions of the operational system of these units, before providing them with guidance, and urging them to make more efforts to preserve the security of the country and its citizens, and to carry on with the fight against the residue of terrorist groups with determination and pride in this sacred duty that is theirs.

      It should be noted that the terrorists captured during this operation were identified as follows:

• LESSLOUS Madani, known as “Cheikh Assim Abou Hayane” (General Mufti of terrorist groups), who joined the terrorist groups in 1994;
• BETAYEB Youcef, known as “Osama Abou Soufiane Anighassi” (Emir of the terrorist group), who joined the terrorist groups in 2007;
• ZERROUK Belkacem, known as “Abou Anes”, who joined terrorist groups in 2005;
• BELAOUI Mohamed, known as “Zerkaoui Abou Oubaida”, who joined terrorist groups in 2007;
• ZEMMOURI Abdelhak, known as “El Hadj”, who joined the terrorist groups in 2003;
• BEN HMIDA Rachid, known as “Houdaifa”, who joined the terrorist groups in 1996;
• DJILALI Abdelkader, known as “Moussa”, who joined the terrorist groups in 2015.

      While the body discovered was identified as that of the terrorist “Zouine Mohamed” known as “Mokdad”, who joined the terrorist groups in 1995.


      The results of this operation add up to those of the operation that took place, on 19th February, with the elimination of seven (07) terrorists and the recovery of six (06) Kalashnikov-type submachine guns, a (01) sniper rifle and considerable quantities of ammunition, thus leading to the extermination of this criminal group which had been sowing terror for years in the region. These convincing results reiterate, once again, the determination and resolution of the units engaged in the fight against terrorism to cleanse our country of the residues of terrorist groups and to eradicate this scourge from our national territory.