Unlike France's other territories in the Maghreb, Algeria was a French administrative département, run and settled not as a colony but as an extension of France itself.

不同于在马格里布对其他领土的殖民地管理，法国把阿尔及利亚看做自身的延伸部分，当成一个行政区域来管理和运行。

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Some reports suggest he joined the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group, which the French army is fighting in the area, but the same group held him prisoner for a few days in November.

BBC: French Islamist captured 'after fighting' in Mali

And the French are highly alert to terrorism in the Maghreb, even after Osama bin Laden's death.

ECONOMIST: French foreign policy

French hostages have been taken in neighboring Niger by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and Paris appears intent on containing any further militant expansion in the heart of Africa.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS