Insurgency in the Maghreb Sofiane el-Fassila (Arabic: سفيان الفصيلة), also known as Harek Zoheir حارك زهير, (born 1975 – 6 October 2007) served as the second-in-command of Al Qaeda in North Africa until Algerian security forces killed him.

[3] In 2006, he was appointed by Abdelmalek Droukdel as the head of central zone of AQIM's operating space.

Involved in numerous terrorist attacks, Sofiane was known to be the head of a network specialized in arms trafficking, a cell of which was dismantled in Berriane in 2006.

[4] Sofiane was presented as the brain of the attacks of 11 April 2007 in Algiers, perpetrated against the Government Palace in the heart of the capital.

Harek Zoheir died on 6 October 2007, killed in a counter-terrorism operation by the Algerian security forces in the Boghni region of Kabylia.