Omar Khderi, On 1 November 1954,the young martyr also known as Omar El Ghoul, carried out a mission against Police Chief Raymond, in Blida. This was the first military operation conducted by National Liberation Army fighters at the outbreak of the Liberation Revolution.
The operation was carefully planned to target Raymond, who had previously killed Martyr Mohamed Ben Merah on 8 May 1945. Ben Merah had marched through Blida waving the national flag and calling for freedom, only to be murdered by Raymond in the Placette El Tout area, in front of the Duriana Hotel.
Omar Khderi was born on 23 March 1928 in Blida, the son of Hamida and Houria Kada. He joined the first civilian battalion in Blida under the orders of Martyr Si Ben Youssef Sidi Yekhlef Mustafa.
During the operation, Omar, accompanied by two fellow fighters, was captured after their attempt to assassinate Ben Qlil Ahmed, a 35-year-old police inspector in charge of countering the revolutionaries. Omar shot him three times in the abdomen on 29 December 1954. The withdrawal, however, was costly, as the three fighters were completely surrounded by the CRS in the Bab El Khouikha neighborhood.
Omar Khderi died at the age of 26, 24 days after the operation, standing on the field of honor while carrying his weapon during an ambush. He had dreamed of becoming a boxing champion. He passed away on 24 November 1954 and is remembered among the first martyrs of the Liberation Revolution.
After independence, the Algerian authorities renamed the former Lafegiri Boys School in Blida’s Hai El Joun, Bab El Rahba, to Martyr Omar Khderi (El Ghoul) School, located near the school named after Martyr Mohamed Ben Merah.
رحمه الله