Algeria hit by surge in guerrilla violence

[Al-khiyal]

This report relating to the incident above provides conflicting details:

ALGIERS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - A roadside bomb exploded beside a bus near Algiers on Sunday, killing one person and wounding four in an upmarket suburb favoured by foreign oil executives and Algerian government officials, residents said.

The bombing, the second near the capital in six weeks, happened late in the afternoon 10 km (six miles) west of the Mediterranean port city in the Bouchaoui district, which is home to several Western and Asian expatriates, residents said.

Police immediately sealed off the scene.

"I was in a bus when a I heard a big explosion. Then we heard gunfire," Mohammed Aziouz, an 18-year-old student travelling in another bus nearby at the time, told Reuters.

"A moment passed. And then police wearing 'Ninja' balaclava hoods entered our bus and started checking identity papers. Those who didn't have them were taken out for verification. The smell of (explosive) powder was very intense."

Reporters who later approached the residential and tourist area, which houses a luxury hotel and the homes of some senior government officials, heard two explosions. Residents said they appeared to be the result of work by bomb disposal teams, but there was no immediate confirmation of that.

Witnesses saw a police forensic team wearing white overalls enter the area.

One resident said the bus had been carrying Chinese workers. That report could not be immediately confirmed and police could not immediately be contacted for comment on the incident.....

Bombing near Algiers kills one - residents

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - A roadside bomb attack on a bus near Algiers on Sunday killed an Algerian and wounded nine people, including four Britons, two Lebanese, an American, an Algerian and a Canadian, the official APS news agency said.

The agency said police were trying to establish the nature and origin of what it called the makeshift device. The Algerian who was killed was the bus driver. One of the Lebanese was seriously wounded, the agency said.

Four Britons, American among wounded by Algiers bomb

[Al-khiyal]

One killed and 9 wounded

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS (Reuters) - The United States embassy urged Americans in Algeria to check their personal security on Monday after a bus carrying foreign oil workers was bombed in the first attack on Western expatriates in many years.

A Warden Notice for the estimated 800 U.S. expatriates said the embassy in the oil- and gas-exporting north African nation would be open for normal business "but is encouraging Americans in Algiers to review their security situation.

"The Embassy will limit movements on December 11 to official business only while evaluating the situation."

An existing U.S. travel warning says there is a significant security risk in many areas of Algeria, Africa's second largest country which is slowly pulling itself out of 14 years of conflict between Islamist rebels and government forces.

Sunday's attack in the upmarket Bouchaoui district, 10 km (six miles) west of Algiers, killed the Algerian driver and wounded nine people, including four Britons and an American, authorities said.

Some expatriate oil executives said they would step up security as a result of the late afternoon attack.

Residents said the bus was ferrying employees of Brown Root Condor, a joint venture of Halliburton subsidiary Kellog, Brown and Root and Condor Engineering, an affiliate of Algerian state energy group Sonatrach.

A security source said the authorities were working on two hypotheses.

"If it is terrorism, that would indicate that the affiliate of Halliburton has been targeted for its role in Iraq. It has been seen as a firm that has hoarded Iraqi riches," the source said.

"If it is criminality, that would mean that the local mafia wants to block the opening of the economy and economic transparency. This mafia wants the status quo and to preserve monopoly situations."

The government is trying to modernize the country's Soviet-style command economy, long dominated by loss-making state banks notorious for mismanagement, graft and inefficiency.

The bombing took place in a heavily protected neighborhood that is home to some government ministers as well as the Sheraton Hotel, where several foreign firms have their offices.....

U.S. reviews security after Algeria bombing

[Al-khiyal]

Attacks in Algeria prompt concerns for safety of foreigners

[Al-khiyal]

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Algerian Islamist militant group claimed responsibility on Monday for the weekend bombing of a bus carrying foreign oil workers near Algiers and warned of further attacks.

"We reiterate our call to all Muslims in Algeria to keep away from the interests of the infidels to avoid harm...once (these interests or individuals) are targeted," the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) said in statement posted on the Internet.

The authenticity of the statement, posted late on Monday on a Web site used by Islamist militant groups, could not be verified.

The attack on Sunday killed the Algerian driver and wounded nine people, including four Britons and an American.

The GSPC said the attack was "a modest present to our Muslim brothers suffering the fire of the new crusade that targets Islam and its sanctities."

"We bring tidings to the crusaders and apostates that they will face what they dislike," it added.

It said the "mujahideen" who carried out the attack - which took place in a heavily protected district 10 km (six miles) west of Algiers - returned to their base unharmed.

The United States on Monday urged Americans in Algeria, estimated to number about 800, to review their personal safety after the bombing, the first attack on Westerners in many years.

The bus was ferrying employees of Brown Root Condor, a joint venture of Halliburton subsidiary Kellog, Brown and Root and Condor Engineering, an affiliate of Algerian state energy group Sonatrach, when a roadside bomb went off and gunmen opened fire.

GSPC claims Algeria bombing, vows more

[Al-khiyal]

Foreign companies’ security strengthened: U.S. calls for caution