Islamic Armed Movement#Rebirth

{{Short description|Algerian Islamic guerrilla group (1982–87 and 92-94)}}

{{infobox war faction

| name = Islamic Armed Movement

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| war =

| image =

| caption =

| active = 1982–1987
1992-1994

| ideology = Islamism
Islamic fundamentalism

| leaders = Mustafa Bouyali (1982-1987)
Abdelkader Chebouti (1992-1994)

| clans =

| headquarters =

| area =

| size =

| predecessor =

| successor = Islamic Salvation Army

| allies = Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA)
Islamic State Movement (MEI)

| opponents = {{flagicon|Algeria}} Algerian government

| battles = Algerian Civil War

| url =

}}

File:Mustafa Bouyali - مصطفى بويعلي.png

The Islamic Armed Movement{{refn|group=note|name=first|Also called Algerian Islamic Armed Movement or Armed Islamic Movement (MIA, from {{langx|fr|Mouvement Islamique Armé}}; {{langx|ar|الحركة الإسلامية المسلحة|Harakat El Islamiyyat El Musallaha}})}} was an Islamic guerrilla group and terrorist organization in northern Algeria in the 1980s and 90s.{{Cite web |title=What Algeria 1992 can, and cannot, teach us about Egypt 2013 |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/what-algeria-1992-can-and-cannot-teach-us-about-egypt-2013/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=openDemocracy |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Ufheil-Somers |first=Amanda |date=1994-07-15 |title=Algeria Between Eradicators and Conciliators |url=https://merip.org/1994/07/algeria-between-eradicators-and-conciliators/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=MERIP |language=en-US}} The group was the largest and most broadly-based Algerian Islamic extremist organization of the 80s.{{Cite book |last=Stone |first=Martin |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/37929276 |title=The agony of Algeria |date=1997 |publisher=Hurst & Co |isbn=1-85065-175-2 |location=London |oclc=37929276}} The group was founded by Mustafa Bouyali in 1981{{Cite web |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title=Refworld {{!}} Islamism, the State and Armed Conflict |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a8228.html |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=Refworld |language=en}} or April 1982{{Cite web |title=Algeria: Bloody Past and Fractious Factions {{!}} Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/algeria-bloody-past-and-fractious-factions |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=www.wilsoncenter.org |language=en}} or July 1982{{Cite web |title=30. Algeria (1962-present) |url=https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/middle-eastnorth-africapersian-gulf-region/algeria-1962-present/ |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=uca.edu |language=en-US}} after a confrontation with security services. The group, which carried out attacks against the government in the Larbaa region,{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/28426753 |title=Islam and Islamic groups : a worldwide reference guide |date=1992 |publisher=Longman Group UK |others=Farzana Shaikh |isbn=0-582-09146-2 |location=Harlow, Essex, U.K. |oclc=28426753}} was a loose association of small groups of which Bouyali proclaimed himself the emir.{{Cite book |last=Kepel |first=Gilles |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48851110 |title=Jihad : the trail of political Islam |date=2002 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=0-674-00877-4 |location=Cambridge, Mass. |oclc=48851110}} The group engaged in guerrilla warfare similar to the Maquis of WWII, and was based in the rural areas of the Atlas Mountains and the Blida District as it provided the ideal terrain for extremist groups, specifically targeting the Mitidja.http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/moss_algeria_kohlman.pdf{{Cite web |title=WOMEN BATTLE FOR THEIR RIGHTS IN ALGERIAN CITY |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1990-05-13-9001080198-story.html |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=Sun Sentinel|date=13 May 1990 }} Bouyali originally was a preacher at the El-Achour Mosque in Algiers where he had gained a following. In 1979 or '81 he formed the Group for Defense Against the Illicit, pressuring the government to implement Islamic law and to adopt policies that reflected "real" Muslim values.{{Cite journal |last=Tamburini |first=Francesco |date=March 2022 |title=Who Controls the Past Controls the Future: How Algeria Manipulated History and Legitimated Power Using its Constitutional Charters and Legislation |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00219096211013416 |journal=Journal of Asian and African Studies |language=en |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=226–246 |doi=10.1177/00219096211013416 |s2cid=236627462 |issn=0021-9096|url-access=subscription }} This group attacked bars and individuals, but had no real power, so Bouyali decided to turn to armed struggle.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55511266 |title=Democratic development & political terrorism : the global perspective |date=2005 |publisher=Northeastern University Press |others=William J. Crotty |isbn=1-55553-625-5 |location=Boston |oclc=55511266}} He was relentlessly harassed by security services though, due to his speaking out against the regime and his support for an Islamic state.

In July 1982, the MIA made its first bomb, however the group's activities were noticed by authorities when they experiment with it. On October 3, Bouyali escaped a kidnapping attempt by agents of the military's security. This caused him to go into hiding; in January 1983, he hid with {{ill|Hadi Hamoudi|ar|هادي_حسن_حمودي}} near Bouguerra Mountain near El Aouinet.{{Cite web |date=December 16, 2012 |title=Islamist Bouali's brother: Mustapha Bouali chose to run away because he did not trust regime |url=https://www.echoroukonline.com/interview-islamist-boualis-brother-mustapha-bouali-chose-to-run-away-because-he-did-not-trust-regime |website=Echorouk}}{{Cite web |last=ISSAfrica.org |title=Chapter 2: Terrorism in Algeria |url=https://issafrica.org/chapter-2-terrorism-in-algeria |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=ISS Africa |language=en}} On November 12, 1982, Bouyali and four others fired for the first time at security forces at a police roadblock in Oued Romane, near El-Achour. Then they attacked a depot of a state company and stole 160 kilos of TNT. Bouyali and others then tested a new bomb on an Algiers beach and stole explosives near Cap Djinet. Due to these activities, a warrant was issued against Bouyali on December 10, 1982. In January 1983, Bouyali's brother was mistakenly killed in the crossfire of a shootout leaving his house. The death of his brother served as an important catalyst for his later increasing violent actions. In early 1983, possibly February or March, Bouyali met with Hadi Khadiri, the police chief and Minister of the Interior, although the meeting was a failure and did not stop Bouyali's campaign. Sometime in the early stages of the group, Bouyali sent the authorities a memorandum in thirteen parts and created a ninety-nine part guide with the aim of creating an Islamic republic in Algeria.{{Cite book |last=Charef |first=Abed |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/417235468 |title=Algérie : le grand dérapage |date=1994 |publisher=Éd. de l'Aube |others=Impr. SEPC) |isbn=2-87678-196-4 |location=La Tour-d'Aigues |oclc=417235468}}

The group often attracted unemployed young men because "its rhetoric evoked 'memories of the bandits of honor in the mountains, paralleling the life of the Prophet and drawing on the original war of liberation'".{{Cite journal |last=Zhang |first=Chuchu |date=September 2018 |title=Islamist Party Mobilization: Tunisia's Ennahda and Algeria's HMS Compared, 1989-2014 |url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/293754/Islamist%20Party%20Mobilization.pdf?sequence=2 |journal=University of Cambridge |pages=224}} One of Bouyali's supporters was Ali Benhadj, the man who would go onto be the vice-president of the FIS.{{Cite book |last=Naylor |first=Phillip Chiviges |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/67922291 |title=Historical dictionary of Algeria |date=2006 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-5340-X |edition=3rd |location=Lanham, Md. |oclc=67922291}} In 1983, the Bouyali group attacked a production unit in Ain Naadja, Algiers and stole the workers' salaries.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51933200 |title=Trauma, war, and violence : public mental health in socio-cultural context |date=2002 |publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers |others=Joop T. V. M. de Jong |isbn=0-306-47675-4 |location=New York |oclc=51933200}} In 1983, the MIA also recruited many new members due to the release of a hundred Islamist prisoners in May 1983. On April 12, 1984, {{ill|Sheikh Soltani|fr|Abdellatif Soltani}} died in his home during house arrest. The next day without any government mention of his death, a large Islamic gathering of 25,000 appeared at his funeral in Kouba.{{Cite journal |last=Sivan |first=Emmanuel |date=1995-03-01 |title=Eavesdropping on Radical Islam |url=https://www.meforum.org/237/eavesdropping-on-radical-islam |journal=Middle East Quarterly |language=en}} In the wake of this demonstration, the trial of a large group of Islamists scheduled for May 13 was called off and instead, a group of 92 political prisoners were released.{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Hugh |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/972140518 |title=The battlefield : Algeria 1988-2002 : studies in a broken polity |date=2017 |publisher=Verso |isbn=978-1-78663-063-6 |location=[London] |oclc=972140518}} Although many of his companions were acquitted, Bouyali was charged in absentia at that same trial and sentenced to death.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1295119778 |title=Routledge library editions. Iran. Mini-set D. |date=2021 |isbn=978-1-136-81285-9 |edition=1st |location=London |oclc=1295119778 |author1=Various }} On the night of August 21, 1985, Bouyali and his militants robbed a DNC (state-owned enterprise) factory in Aïn-Naadja of £110,000{{Cite book |last=Zhang |first=Chuchu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cwOkDwAAQBAJ&q=Roberts+2003 |title=Islamist Party Mobilization: Tunisia's Ennahda and Algeria's HMS Compared, 1989–2014 |date=2019-07-19 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-981-13-9487-4 |language=en}} or one million dinars and on August 26–27,{{refn|group=note|name=second|The most likely time for this attack was the night of the 26th{{Cite book |last=Willis |first=Michael J. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36649104 |title=The Islamist challenge in Algeria : a political history |date=1997 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=0-8147-9328-2 |location=Washington Square, N.Y. |oclc=36649104}}{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2014-10-11 |title=الجماعات المسلحة في الجزائر من "بويعلي" إلى "جند الخلافة"! |url=https://www.alquds.co.uk/الجماعات-المسلحة-في-الجزائر-من-بويع/ |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=القدس العربي |language=ar}} Other sources report it was on the 25th or the 29th}} 1985, MIA insurgents headed by Bouyali, attacked a police school in Soumaâ, killing an officer and seizing 340 weapons, and more than 18,000 pieces of ammunition.{{Cite journal |last=Jazairy |first=Idriss |date=2004-01-01 |title=Terrorism: An Algerian Perspective |url=https://scholarship.richmond.edu/global/vol4/iss1/3 |journal=Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=11–20}} In 1986, Bouyali organized clandestine cells, composed of veteran mujahideen members from Afghanistan.{{Cite book |last=Coolsaet |first=R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vvhIaaHTRXcC&dq=Bouyali&pg=PA46 |title=Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge in Europe |date=2008 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-7217-3 |language=en}} The group of several hundred militants lasted for five years, until Bouyali was killed on January or February 3, 1987, (most likely January 3) when police received information from Bouyali's driver.{{Cite web |title=Algeria: Bloody Past and Fractious Factions {{!}} Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/algeria-bloody-past-and-fractious-factions |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=www.wilsoncenter.org |language=en}} Bouyali and five others were driving in the mountains near Larbaa when the driver flashed on his lights and shots rang out from both sides of the road. Bouyali's final act was to shoot the driver in the head seconds before he was killed by a bullet to the forehead.{{Cite book |last=Fisk |first=Robert |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/84904295 |title=The great war for civilisation : the conquest of the Middle East |date=2007 |publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=978-1-4000-7517-1 |edition=1st Vintage books |location=New York |oclc=84904295}} All six including the driver were killed in the final clashes as well as a policeman who was the head of the elite security forces.{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2014-10-11 |title=الجماعات المسلحة في الجزائر من "بويعلي" إلى "جند الخلافة"! |url=https://www.alquds.co.uk/الجماعات-المسلحة-في-الجزائر-من-بويع/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=القدس العربي |language=ar}} Other sources also say that he was killed while in a confrontation with the gendarme in an Algiers suburb.

Other important MIA members such as Abdelkader Chebouti and Mansouri Meliani were sentenced to death and subsequently jailed, but released in 1989 and pardoned in 1990 due to political reforms.{{Cite journal |last=Hafez |first=Mohammed M. |date=2000 |title=Armed Islamist Movements and Political Violence in Algeria |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4329544 |journal=Middle East Journal |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=572–591 |jstor=4329544 |issn=0026-3141}} Meliani would later be arrested in July 1992 and executed in 1993 after he and Chebouti were captured after a battle in Ashour, a few hundred meters from Bouyali's unmarked grave. After the death of Bouyali, the MIA effectively fell apart and most members were arrested. On June 15, or 20, 1987, the largest trial of Algerian Islamists started, with 202 defendants and four in absentia represented by a 49 man defense council. On July 10, four were sentenced to death, seven to twelve years, 166 to between one and 15 years and 15 were acquitted.