few months saw the killing of some 100 Islamist prisoners in the Serkadji prison mutiny, and a major success for the security forces in battle at Ain Defla, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of guerrilla fighters. Cherif Gousmi was eventually succeeded by Djamel Zitouni as GIA head. Zitouni extended the GIA's attacks on civilians to French soil, beginning with the hijacking of Air France Flight 8969 at the end of December 1994 and continuing with several bombings and attempted bombings throughout 1995. It is thought Zitouni hoped to undermine the FIS by proving its irrelevance to the outcome of the war, and to induce the French government to withdraw support from the Algerian government to put a stop to the terrorism. But by eliminating the FIS as a factor the campaign also suggested to outsiders in America and Europe that the "only force capable of stopping the terrorists" was the Algerian government. In any case, in France the GIA attacks created a backlash of fear of young Muslim immigrants joining the campaign. The campaign was a major fault line dividing the insurgents. The GIA "exalted in the enthusiasm of the disinherited" poor young Algerian men every time "the former colonial power" was attacked, while the FIS leaders abroad struggled to persuade "the governments of Europe and the United States" that Islamic FIS government would "guarantee social order and expand the market economy" in Algeria. In Algeria itself, attacks continued, with car bombs and assassinations of musicians, sportsmen, and unveiled women, as well as police and soldiers. Even at this stage, the seemingly counterproductive nature of many of its attacks led to speculation (encouraged by FIS members abroad whose importance was undermined by GIA hostility to negotiation) that the group had been infiltrated by Algerian secret services. The region south of Algiers, in particular, came to be dominated by the GIA, who called it the "liberated zone". Later, it would come to be known as the "Triangle of Death". Reports of battles between the AIS and GIA increased, and the GIA reiterated its death threats against FIS and AIS leaders, assassinating a co-founder of the FIS, Abdelbaki Sahraoui, in Paris. At this point, foreign sources estimated the total number of guerrillas to be about 27,000. Politics resume, militias emerge, 1995–96 Following the breakdown of negotiations with the FIS, the government decided to hold presidential elections. On 16 November 1995, former