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| | Armed Islamic Group - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
 | | The Armed Islamic Group (GIA, from French Groupe Islamique Armé; Arabic al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah al-Musallah) is a militant Islamist group with the declared aim of overthrowing the Algerian government and replacing it with an Islamic state. |
 | | On August 26, it declared a "Caliphate", or Islamic government for Algeria, with Gousmi as Commander of the Faithful, Mohammed Said as head of government, the US-based Haddam as foreign minister, and Mekhloufi as provisional interior minister. |
 | | Under the leadership of Antar Zouabri, its longest serving "emir" (1996-2002), the GIA became a "takfirist" group, considering Algerian society to be in violation of Islamic precepts, therefore justifying the killing of members of that society as a form of purification of heretical elements. |
| en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Armed_Islamic_Group (1345 words) |
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