Slimane Ben Tobbal better known as Lakhdar Ben Tobbal, is a former Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

n resistance fighter.

Ben Tobbal was a member of the nationalist

Nationalism

Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

 Parti du peuple Algérien (PPA), and later moved on to its paramilitary

Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....

 organization (Organisation Spéciale, OS) which became the embryo of the Front de libération nationale

Front de Libération Nationale

Front de Libération Nationale may refer to:* National Liberation Front , a socialist political party founded in 1954 for independence from France for Algeria...

 (FLN). He was one of the original "historical leaders" of the FLN's November 1, 1954 uprising against French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 colonialism.

A top leader of the FLN's interior armed action in the 1954-62 Algerian war of independence

Algerian War of Independence

The Algerian War was a conflict between France and Algerian independence movements from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria's gaining its independence from France...

. Under the nom de guerre Si Abdallah, he acquired a reputation as one of its most effective and ruthless guerrilla

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...

 commanders, and was nicknamed the "Algerian Beria

Lavrentiy Beria

Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....

" by outside observers.

He was a member of all three issues of the FLN's exile government, the GPRA

GPRA

GPRA may refer to:*Government Performance and Results Act*Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic...

, in various ministerial capacities. On independence in 1962, he opposed the victorious military

Armée de Libération Nationale

The Armée de Libération Nationale or ALN was the armed wing of the nationalist Front de Libération National during the Algerian War of Independence...

-backed takeover of Ahmed Ben Bella

Ahmed Ben Bella

Mohamed Ahmed Ben Bella was a soldier and Algerian revolutionary, who became the first President of Algeria.-Youth:...

, and was arrested. On his release, he left politics, and spent the remainder of his career in various non-political bureaucratic and business posts. He lives in Algiers

Algiers

' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

.