LICENSE TO KILL: FRANCE'S SECRET "ASSASSINATION" SQUAD

by Patrick BAHZAD

The cat is out of the bag: last Saturday, a famous French radio-show aired a programme disclosing information about the existence of what is called the "Groupe Alpha". Although this is not the first time rumours have surface about the existence of this unit, the details that emerged now certainly make for an interesting read.

 

The last time France's intelligence services used "targeted assassinations" on a large scale was during the Algerian War for Independence (1954-1962). French SDECE (the predecessor to today's DGSE) hit between 200 and 300 targets during that period, either Algerian activists, arms dealers or even lawyers who had made common cause with the Algerian insurgents. Those killings were handled internally or sub-contracted to an informal proxy of French intelligence called "La main rouge".

Badge of "11e Régiment Parachutiste de Choc" - DGSE's elite action unit

After the Algerian War and until the mid-1980s, "targeted assassinations" became an exceptional task for DGSE or other branches of French intel, like the "11e Régiment Parachutiste de Choc" or the "Service Action", with the notable exception of Lebanon, where French agents killed the mastermind and operatives behind the assassination of French ambassador Louis Delamare in Beirut in the early 1980s. It is also rumoured that a certain car bomb explosion on a market in Damascus was staged by French agents or proxies around the same period.

"Groupe Alpha" was created in the mid-1980s, when it became apparent that "assassination" missions were more and more difficult to organise in areas such as the Middle-East. "Groupe Alpha" was thus set up with personnel having no prior engagements or deployments in the region and its operatives – probably never more than a dozen – are handled in a totally compartmentalised way. They have no common training and no contact even with the "Service Action" of DGSE, which is usually tasked with the more "hairy" missions devoted to French intel.

An unknown track-record

Is is unclear how often the group has been sent to work, especially in recent years, as French authorities rely more and more on cooperation with US drone teams for "kill" missions against Jihadi groups in North-Africa and the Middle-East. What is certain is that "Groupe Alpha" has been assigned certain tasks in the former Yugoslavia, in the early 1990s, and in mainland Europe, in connection with various Islamic terror groups since the mid-1990s.

Abu Hamza, a probable aborted target of "Groupe Alpha"

Details are very sketchy though about operations in which it played a significant role. After a terror campaign in France in 1995, a small number of suspected Algerian terrorists or terror supporters disappeared in a couple of European countries. Their fate or whereabouts have never been clarified, although it was more likely at the time that Algerian Military Intelligence might be to blame for their probable deaths.

The few confirmed cases in which the name or signature of "Groupe Alpha" does surface are related, for example, to a plan aimed at killing London based hate-preacher Abu Hamza in 1998. According to various news reports, French DGSE - tired by years of Britisch extradition procedures - contemplated having the man shot and letting a neo-nazi group take the fall. The plan was finally abandoned in light of the possible fall-out it might have.

weapons seized by Spanish police in 2002

In 2002,  two "Groupe Alpha" agents were also arrested by Spanish police near Barcelona in what French authorities later described as a "training exercise". Interestingly, one of the French agents was a former Algerian national with a French passport. In the trunk of his car, the Guardia Civil found a genuine "James Bond" type arsenal. The arrest caused a bit of a stir between both countries, but the two agents were finally released on bail and never appeared in court.

Off the record, it was explained to Barcelona's magistrates that the agents would never face the charges brought forward by the Spanish justice and they had been given a new identity, which made any international arrest warrants useless.

Spy novels as a possible blue print ?

While factual evidence is hard to come by, ex-DGSE agent and security consultant Pierre Martinet - formerly a member of the "Service Action" branch - wrote two spy novels in 2012 and 2013 which, in hindsight, shed an interesting light on the whole leaking of "Groupe Alpha" existence.

In the novels, the DGSE team with the famous "license to kill" is called "Cellule Delta", an easy give-away for what the author referred to, but unknown to a large public in those years. This Delta Cell is used mainly in North Africa (Libya) and the Middle-East (Lebanon), to try and neutralize targets identified by DGSE headquarters.

Cover page to 2012 fiction "Delta Cell"

While Pierre Martinet has always insisted on his novels being entirely fiction, he is also known in French politics for his repeated calls for a more aggressive approach towards the organisers and leaders of terrorism, where ever these people hide.

In close cooperation with the US

More recently, during hearings in front of the French Parliament's Intelligence Commission, State officials confirmed about 15 targeted kills in Mali since 2013. Most of these operations however have been led by airstrikes. Two of the most well known cases of targeted killings however took place in entirely different areas, notably in Somalia, where Ahmed Godane - a Shebab leader responsible for the abduction of two French DGSE agents - was killed in an US led drone-strike following French surveillance and confirmation of his whereabouts.

Godane was on US and French "Wanted" list

While the French have often been prone to criticism towards the US "Predator" programme, this example shows that cooperation between both countries is actually much closer than official "political narratives" would suggest. France and the US both have bases in the East African country of Djibouti, which is a likely candidate as an operating base for drone strikes, now that al-Anad airbase in Yemen is out of the picture.

The second confirmed and official kill is that of Mollah Hazrat, an Afghan Taliban leader claimed by the French to be responsible for an ambush in which 9 French Mountain Infantry died in August 2008, in Uzbeen Valley.

Whether or not "Groupe Alpha" was assigned missions closer to home, in European countries known to serve as logistical bases for Jihadi groups, is still a well-kept secret. The only thing that has been acknowledged by officials is that no French citizen features on the current "kill list".

http://www.franceinter.fr/les-cellules-alpha

http://www.amazon.fr/Les-tueurs-de-la République

http://how French spies plotted to kill Abu Hamza

http://Pierre Martinet: Cellule Delta

 

Comments

[Babak Makkinejad]

WRD:

I understand you are lawyer.

Could this disclosure be used to include the French Republic into US State Department's list of State Sponsors of Terrorism?

[Patrick Bahzad]

I'll go out on a limb here, but picking up the trash and getting rid of garbage doesn't qualify as terrorism in my book

[Joe100]

Babak -

Can you see any difference between this program and US drone strikes - except that "collateral damage" is probably non-existent compared with drone strikes?

And I don't see the US putting itself on the "State Sponsors of Terrorism" list.

[Babak Makkinejad]

If I recall correctly, The French government murdered Green Peace activists by blowing up their ship while anchored in New Zealand.

Tell me who is making the determination who is and is not "human garbage".

"Stalin is taking care of the dirt and garbage necessary for human progress."

[C Webb]

Also worth mentioning...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior

[The Twisted Genius]

Yes, this is an interesting read. My initial reaction: Good! This is the way it should be done. Look the bastard in the eye or, at least, the back of his head before you blow him away. Man up to the grave risks of taking this approach and avoid the collateral damage (killing and maiming of innocents) associated with bombing from a distance. This appeals to my outmoded sense of martial anachronism. I'm also glad to hear that no French citizens are on the French "kill list." I now hope all those involved abide by whatever the French equivalent of STFU. Leave the rest to our imaginations and the novelists.

As for the Rainbow Warrior fiasco, it shows the French are as capable of shortsighted idiocy as the rest of us.

[Patrick Bahzad]

I wouldn't call it murder as it wasn't intended. if memory serves me correctly the two agents who got arrested were sentenced by NZL for involuntary manslaughter.
The ethical question about such practices needs of course to be asked you're right, as does the question of legal oversight, which is always left in limbo in France ... I guess it makes plausible deniability a lot easier when you don't draw up torture memos or killing list criteria.
That is why your question about who decides is absolutely justified ... As far as I know it's the executive branch with no prior oversight or approval required.

[Patrick Bahzad]

TTG,

Rainbow warrior was a fuck up of epic proportions that led to major overhaul, not just because people got caught but because they read the situation totally wrong. Going after a green peace ship was probably the lowest we ever got in recent times.
But there were lessons learnt from it: in 1995, the rainbow warrior was simply stormed by French seals using CS and towed into nearest french naval base where it got impounded for a while. Nobody got hurt.

[Babak Makkinejad]

That is what we publicly know.

Look at Rwanda where the French Government protected the mass murderess and the real dirt and garbage.

[Patrick Bahzad]

You may have a case to argue there, but I don't think again protecting mass murderers was on the agenda. That some of them got away thx to french intervention is a definite possibility, but I'm not going to argue about hypotheticals. However You're perfectly free to draw this conclusion from what you know about the case. Won't blame you for anti-French bias in this instance.

[Babak Makkinejad]

I am not anti-French; in fact, my French friends call me a "Gaullist at Heart".

I wish I could live in Toulouse....

[Patrick Bahzad]

No worries, I know you're not and your question is perfectly legit.

[turcopolier]

PB

I'll take St. Jean de Luz. pl

[Patrick Bahzad]

That's a fine choice ! I used to live there for a while ... Was stationed not very far away !
Bit of a mix between Californian coastal area and Appalachian mountains in the background ... with better food though :-)

[mbrenner]

It has been suggested that there is a more refined, less "kinetic,' way to deal with troublesome elements. It begins with "understanding" - as exemplified in this graphic:

http://imagecache5d.art.com/Crop/cropwm.jpg?img=-65-6593-CGU2100Z&x=0&y=0&w=1000&h=1000&size=2&maxw=1413&maxh=671&q=100

[Patrick Bahzad]

But what if they decide to slice and dice you and eat you in a spicy vegetable potato stew ?

[Imagine]

that would indeed make me rue.

[William R. Cumming]

There is no standard definition of the term STATE SPONSORS OF TERRORISM! Thus, those who might wish to so label the French are free to do so.

[BabelFish]

I would prefer a good bouillabaisse. We simply do not know where the barbarians are from the graphic.

[The Beaver]

@ Babak

Oh qu'ils sont chanceux les élus Africains qui bénéficient d'un tunnel souterrain entre le Palais Présidentiel et L'Ambassade de France :-)

[Jane]

Killing perpetrators and instigators is one thing, killing innocent bystanders in order for political gain or to make a political point is another.

While I'd prefer all brought to trial as with Dzhokar Tsarnaev, I am ambivalent when that alternative is not available.

There are certain logical problems involved with the slogan: Exterminate the exterminators.

[OIFVet]

Thankfully, the DGSE has replaced idiocy with comedy gold. In 2012, five DGSE commandos, practicing infiltration of Bulgaria from Romania, were beaten up and detained by two brothers and their policeman friend who encountered them in their alfalfa fields and mistook them for thieves. It made for countless Jacques Bond jokes at the time.
http://www.leparisien.fr/espace-premium/actu/le-faux-pas-bulgare-de-cinq-espions-francais-03-11-2012-2288463.php
http://sofrep.com/14269/bulgarian-peasants-french-intelligence-operatives/

From the Sofrep piece: "Enter the Tsonev brothers; Slavi and Vasko. The brothers stumbled upon the French intelligence operatives in the middle of the night. Thinking them for thieves out to steal their crops, the two brothers took off and returned with a third man, a retired police officer. The brothers, armed with two wooden boards, and the officer with a 1950s Makarov pistol, surprised the agents and surrounded their vehicle.

Knowing my Bulgarian brethren, the follow-on “scuffle” was unavoidable.

In the end two French agents were shot (one in the foot and the other in the leg) and a third suffered a broken nose. The remaining two managed to escape on foot under the cover of darkness. The unharmed villagers confiscated computers, diving equipment, professional cameras, and even a parachute in the vehicle. After receiving medical treatment and a follow on interrogation by police, the three agents were immediately whisked away on a special flight back to Paris courtesy of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry.

I can only assume how the After Action Report went back in France:

“Team Leader: Well, Pierre and Jacques were shot in the leg by an old guy with a Makarov, and Francois took a two-by-four to the face. Michel and myself ran away into the woods. And all of our equipment was stolen by two farmers.”"

The first time I came upon the story I thought it was an Onion piece :)

[The Twisted Genius]

OIFVet,

The DGSE is not alone with this kind of occasional screw up. During exercises Delta sometimes gets compromised by the locals. The common thing to do was to claim they were ISA so they wouldn't be embarrassed. ISA would claim they were Delta when caught for the same reason. I spent part of a night in the Dade County lockup when I stumbled into a group of around 20 heavily armed DEA agents in the middle of the Everglades one Summer's night. I stuck to my cover and did not compromise the team hiding only 20 feet from me. I went to jail and the team was able to continue the mission undiscovered. The scariest part was how much those DEA agents were shaking holding the shotguns. No one screwed with me in the Dade County lockup. I was kinda scary looking back then.

[OIFVet]

Yikes, that's scary indeed. You did the right thing though, unlike the DGSE commandos. Instead of remaining calm and deescalating, they actually began the fight. Here is the brothers' account in Bulgarian, it's absolutely hilarious: http://btvnovinite.bg/article/bulgaria/frenskite-komandosi-ot-koilovtsi-mnogo-sa-byagali-ot-chas.html. Auto translate does a lousy job of translating into English, but here is my translation of the relevant parts:

"We stopped to ask them who they are and the guy in the passenger seat came after us. The driver then started the engine and tried to run over me, I have medical report attesting that he hit me with the car. One of ours managed to drag the driver out of the jeep, and the strangers yelled something in another language. Three more showed up out of the darkness and came after us too. The policeman yelled "Police" and fired a warning shot but they kept coming at us. He then shot one and two others ran away. We overpowered the remaining ones and tied them down with bungee cords so they wouldn't run away. They were very tough and kept trying to crawl and squirm. So we gave them a solid thrashing and only then they began to shout that they are tourists. Yeah well, as they say in our village, "It's too late for a bouquet, sweetheart". On the fact that they beat up French commandos they commented "With two words, these commandos must have skipped a lot of classes during training.""

That's simply tragicomic and that's why the DGSE became the butt of many jokes in Europe in the aftermath. These guys made a lot of mistakes and got whupped pretty good as result by vigilant brothers who mistook the commandos for gypsies trying to steal their crops. Then there was the diplomatic mess, what with the apparent fact (despite the BG government's attempt to soften the situation) that the Bulgarian authorities were not notified in advance of the drill, and that it occurred in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant. So the mission planning wasn't any better than the execution. I chuckle every time I am reminded of the incident, though I'm sure it wasn't much fun for any of the participants on either side.

[Patrick Bahzad]

True story though with high entertainment value !
Part of the crackpot idea that you can send in people who wouldn't pass for nationals let alone locals in a million years ... But at least they got sent in "on a training exercise" and not kill the pope ;-)