Special Intervention Group

The Special Intervention Group (Groupe d'Intervention Spécial, GIS) is a special forces group created in Algeria in 1987, initially with 400 members.

History
Since 1992, GIS forces have operated within the context of violent confrontation between the Algerian government and Islamic militants; major human rights violations against civilians have been alleged against both sides. A resulting arms embargo against Algeria initially prevented the GIS from obtaining equipment such as night-vision goggles typical for such units. However, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, western matériel vendors were allowed to sell equipment to Algeria in the name of the international War on Terrorism.

Responsibility and training
A sub-unit of the Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité (DRS), it is responsible for counter-terrorism. It is based in Algiers and has a base at Blida, 50 km (31 miles) from Algiers. The Grouping of special intervention (GIS) made several elaborate training courses in various domains (assault, sniping, aircraft, bomb squad) to the Officers' training school of the special troops (EATS) in Algeria, without forgetting the training in the highly rated of the groups Alpha of Russia. The men of the GIS are trained in the Japanese martial arts Ju-Jitsu and the Korean martial arts Kuk Sool Won, but in a purely military aspect.

Firearms

 * Assault rifle
 * AKM
 * Steyr AUG
 * Heckler and Koch G36


 * Machine guns
 * PKM machine gun


 * SMG
 * Beretta M12
 * Heckler & Koch MP5
 * Heckler & Koch MP7


 * Sniper rifle
 * Dragunov sniper rifle
 * Remington 700


 * Shotguns
 * Franchi SPAS-12


 * Pistols
 * Glock 17
 * Beretta 92
 * Beretta 93R
 * Browning Hi Power
 * Caracal pistol