Dubai
Algeria’s Chief of Staff of the People’s National Army Ahmed Gaid Salah died of a heart attack, Algerian state news agency APS said on Monday. The President Abdelmadjid Tebboune appointed General Said Chengriha as acting army chief and declared three days of nationwide mourning. Military establishments will mourn for seven days.
Salah died Monday morning in the military hospital of Algiers after a heart attack. Algerian media reports said Gaid Salah was 79 or 80 years old.
He was seen as the main power player in Algeria, especially since a pro-democracy movement with his backing pushed out the country’s longtime president in April. Salah was present at the inauguration of this gas-rich country’s new president last week. — AP
