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Abdelkader Mokhtari (kunya: Abu el-Ma'ali, The Gendarme; died October 2015)[1] was an Algerian commander who became a "sacred legend" for the Bosnian mujahideen in the Bosnian War.[1][2]
Evan Kohlmann claimed that Mokhtari, an Algerian, came to Bosnia with experience from his time in the Armed Islamic Group.[1] He also stated that Mokhtari was serving as second-in-command of a Zenica battalion, under the command of Anwar Shaaban with Fateh Kamal as his right-hand man in 1995,[3] Kohlmann has also stated that Kamal visited 16 countries during that time.[1] Kohlmann later claimed that a 1997 French report suggested that Mokhtari had managed to keep a cache of SA-7 missiles after the Dayton Accords, due to his protection and status with President Alija Izetbegović.[3]
In 1996, some sources suggested that Mokhtari was leading the 3rd Corps, known as the Gazi'a Force, an Arabic term for retribution, which incorporated formerly independent mujahideen units into a single force. Other reports suggest he only led the training portion of the Corps, known as U-Force.
Karim Said Atmani served under his command during the Bosnian war.[2][4]
In 1999, the United States conditioned assistance to the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, demanding that the country first hand over Mokhtari to their custody.[5] While Izetbegović initially refused, he subsequently agreed to expel Mokhtari from the country, rather than deport him to the United States.[according to whom?]
In 2005, Mokhtari was interviewed by a Bosnian magazine about his perspective on the trial against Abduladhim Maktouf, a Mujahideen alleged to have been involved in the mistreatment of Croatian prisoners. Mokhtari noted that he had married a Bosnian wife.[3]
Mokhtari died in Oran in October 2015. Salat al-Janazah was performed on 26 October 2015.
One of the key members of this network, Said Atmani, also known as Abu Hisham, had Bosnian and Moroccan passports and had been trained in the cells of the Egyptian Gamaa Islamiya and then fought in Bosnia in a battalion of Arab mujahideen under the orders of Abdelkader Mohktari, commander of the seventh brigade of Zenica.
One U.S. official referred to Atmani as a 'crazy warrior with a nose so broken and twisted he could sniff around corners.'
After the foiled plot against U.S. bases in Germany, the United States suspended without public explanation a military-aid program to Bosnia in 1999 in an attempt to force the deportation of the Algerian leader of the group, Abdelkader Mokhtari, also known as Abu el Maali.
