Double car bombing in Algeria kills 11

Wed Aug 20, 2008 4:46am EDT
ALGIERS (Reuters) - A double car bombing in Algeria killed at least 11 people on Wednesday, a day after an attack that killed 43 people at a military academy, the Algerian press agency APS said quoting the Interior Ministry.

It was the bloodiest week in nearly a year in the OPEC member state, a major oil and gas supplier to Europe which is emerging from more than a decade of conflict with Islamist rebels.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings on Wednesday at Bouira, 150 km (90 miles) east of Algiers, but they follow a spate of attacks by al Qaeda's north African wing

The news agency said 31 people including four military personnel were wounded. All the dead were civilians.

The first bomb hit a military area while the second targeted a hotel, exploding just as a passenger bus drove past, APS said.

Tuesday's bombing was one of the bloodiest incidents in years in the OPEC member state. The target was the gendarmerie training school at Issers, 55 km (34 miles) east of the capital.

Conflict began in Algeria in 1992 when a military-backed government scrapped elections a radical Islamic party was poised to win. About 150,000 people have died in the ensuing violence.

The bloodshed has eased in recent years but a hard core of several hundred rebels fight on as part of al Qaeda's affiliate, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.

The local al Qaeda affiliate has claimed several attacks including the twin suicide bombings of U.N. offices and a court building in Algiers in December 2007 which killed 41 people.

A total of 57 people were killed in bombings within three days last September.

Source: Reuters