ALGERIA: 30 dead after two bomb attacks in Algerian capital
- 00:00:30
- ITN Source
ALGERIA: 30 dead after two bomb attacks in Algerian capital
Bombs killed 30 people in Algeria's capital on Wednesday (April 11), attacks claimed by al Qaeda that raised fears the north African oil exporter was slipping back into the intense political violence of a decade ago. One of the blasts, believed to be a suicide bombing, ripped part of the facade off the prime minister's headquarters in the centre of Algiers leaving a gaping hole in the six-storey building, shattering windows and showering rubble on to cars for blocks around. Dozens of ambulances converged on the upscale residential neighbourhood as thousands of people poured on to the streets and survivors were led from the building. Medics carried the bloodied and burned victims in their arms and on stretchers from the government palace. A second bomb hit Bab Ezzouar on its eastern outskirts, the official APS news agency said. The Al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the bombings in an Internet statement, which also included a claim of responsibility for attacks in neighbouring Morocco and pictures of three "martyrs". The claim could not be immediately verified but the group, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), has taken responsibility for a number of deadly attacks on security forces and foreigners in Algeria since January. Hospital sources put the death toll from the two bombings at 30. Algeria descended into violence in 1992 after the then military-backed authorities scrapped a parliamentary election, which an Islamist political party was set to win. Up to 200,000 people were killed in the ensuing bloodshed. That violence subsided in recent years following amnesties for insurgents, but rumbles on in the Bejaia region in mountains east of Algiers. Residents said Wednesday was the first time since the 1990s that a powerful bomb targeted the centre of the Mediterranean city where police had stepped up security following a rise in attacks by insurgents in the countryside. One Algerian analyst said the operation appeared to be a reply to stepped-up attacks by the army on Islamist insurgents.
ITN Source | April 12, 2007
