Algeria hit by surge in guerrilla violence

[Al-khiyal]

Algiers, April 11th 2007: Firemen carry away a victim of the explosion at the PM's offices

[Al-khiyal]

At least 17 people were killed and scores injured in a series of car bombs that rocked the Algerian capital on Wednesday, including one that targeted the government headquarters.

The civil defence department said in a statement that the blast outside the seat of government left nine people dead and 32 wounded, while shortly afterwards eight people were killed and 50 injured near a police station.

Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhamed condemned the attacks as "criminal and cowardly."

The first blast shook several buildings and sent shattered glass flying over a distance of 200 to 300 meters (yards), witnesses said. Ambulances and police cars immediately rushed to the multi-storey building, which also houses several ministries.

A thick cloud of smoke rose from the site of the blast, which was heard across the city.

Thousands of passersby congregated on the vast steps of the building, as uniformed and plainclothes police attempted to contain the crowd.

Minutes later, witnesses said three car bombs went off near a police station in Bab Ezzouar, an eastern suburb of Algiers, near the international airport. The explosions badly damaged the police station and destroyed an electricity sub-station...

Bomb blasts kill 17 in Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

KUWAIT, April 11 (KUNA) -- His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent a cable on Wednesday to Algerian President Abdulaziz Bouteflika in which he expressed Kuwait's condemnation for the two bombings in Algiers.

The bombings targeted the presidential palace and other government buildings in the Algerian capital, and left several people dead and seriously wounded.

His Highness Sheikh Sabah reiterated Kuwait's refusal of such terrorist acts that claimed the lives of innocent civilians and destabilized the country, praying for the safety and security of Algeria and its people.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah sent similar cables.

Kuwait condemns Algerian bombings

[Al-khiyal]

Un attentat à l'explosif a ciblé mercredi à 10h 45 le palais du gouvernement, au centre d'Alger. Un attentat à l'explosif a également ciblé la sûreté urbaine de Bab Ezzouar. Le premier bilan donné à midi (heure locale) des deux attentats enregistrés mercredi matin fait état de neuf morts et de trente-deux blessés devant le palais du gouvernement et de huit morts et cinquante blessés devant le commissariat de police de Bab-Ezzouar, a-t-on appris de la protection civile. Le chef du gouvernement, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, a qualifié cet attentat d'"acte criminel et lâche".

"Il s'agit d'un acte criminel qui relève de la pure lâcheté et de la trahison, au moment où le peuple algérien revendique la réconciliation nationale", a indiqué M. Belkhadem dans une déclaration à la presse.

Au sujet des dégâts humains et matériels occasionnés par cet attentat, le chef du gouvernement a ajouté que "nous sommes en train d'établir un premier bilan et de prendre en charge les blessés par leur évacuation vers les hôpitaux".

Un attentat à l'explosif cible le Palais du gouvernement à Alger,
un acte ''criminel et lâche'', déclare M. Belkhadem

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS (AFP) - Bomb blasts in the Algerian capital Wednesday killed 17 people and injured 110, the interior ministry said.

The civil defence department earlier said in a statement that an explosion outside the government headquarters left nine people dead and 32 wounded, while eight people were killed 50 injured at a police station in an eastern suburb.

The new interior ministry total gave no breakdown.

Bomb blasts kill 17, wound 110 in Algerian capital

[Al-khiyal]

Image from Algerian television shows a scene after two bomb attacks,
one targeting the prime minister's office and the other a police station,
that killed at least 17 people and injured over one hundred in Algiers on Wednesday April 11 2007

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS, Algeria -- Bombs heavily damaged the prime minister's office and a police station Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens, the country's official news agency said.

Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, who was unhurt, said that militants - believed to be linked to al-Qaida - were responsible for the "cowardly, criminal terrorist act" as he spoke to reporters outside his wrecked offices.

The attacks were a devastating setback for the North African nation's efforts to close the chapter on its Islamic insurgency that has killed 200,000 people. After years of relative calm, an al-Qaida affiliate recently has recently waged several smaller attacks.

Belkhadem declined to say how many had been killed or wounded. The official APS agency reported that the bombing of the government building killed at least nine people and injured 32, and that eight others were killed and 50 wounded in the attack on the police station of Bab Ezzouar, east of the capital, on the road to its airport.

A charred, wrecked car lay on the pavement about 98 feet from the gates of the government building, a modern white, block-like high-rise that also houses the Interior Ministry. It was not immediately clear if the car had been involved in the bombing.

Police cordoned off stairs leading up to the government building with orange police tape, and paramedics raced up the steps with stretchers. Paramedics escorted a man with blood on his head into an ambulance. Another woman, looking dazed and in tears, was checked for head injuries.

The explosion at about 10:45 local time caused windows to rattle at least a half-mile away. Few details were immediately available about the other attack east of the capital.

Algeria's insurgency broke out in 1992, after the army canceled legislative elections that an Islamic party appeared set to win.

Since then, violence related to the insurgency has left an estimated 200,000 dead - civilians, soldiers and Islamic fighters - according to the government. Algeria's military led a crackdown on militants hiding out in the country's brush and mountains, while the government tried to reconcile the nation with several amnesty offers to militants willing to turn in their weapons.

Belkhadem expressed bitterness at insurgents who refused the amnesty offers.

"The Algerian people stretched out a hand to them, and they respond with a terrorist act," he said.

Large-scale violence died down in the late 1990s, but skirmishes have surged in recent months as an al-Qaida affiliate carried out a deadly and carefully planned series of bomb attacks. Several targeted foreign workers.

A March 3 bombing of a bus carrying workers for a Russian company killed a Russian engineer and three Algerians. A December attack near Algiers and targeting a bus carrying foreign employees of an affiliate of Halliburton killed an Algerian and a Lebanese citizen.

Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, the new name for the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French abbreviation GSPC, claimed responsibility for both attacks.