Deadly bombings hit Algerian town

Eleven people have been killed and 31 injured by twin car bombs near a hotel and a barracks in Bouira, south east of the Algerian capital, state media say.

Witnesses said the blasts went off in quick succession.

The attacks come one day after a car bomb killed 43 people and injured a further 38 at a police college near Boumerdes, east of Algiers.

In recent months Algeria has suffered regular attacks blamed on Islamist insurgents linked to al-Qaeda.

The country has been rebuilding with the help of oil and gas profits after a brutal civil conflict in which Islamist militants led an insurgency against state security forces.

Many recent attacks have happened in the area east and south of Algiers, which borders the mountainous Berber region of Kabylia.

Passenger bus

Wednesday’s bombs went off near the Hotel Sofi and the military headquarters in Bouira, which is about 100km (62 miles) from Algiers, state media reported.

The blast at the hotel hit a nearby passenger bus, reports said.

One of the bombs ripped off the front of the military headquarters, and the blasts could be heard in a radius of several hundred meters, witnesses said.

Just a day earlier, a suicide car bomber drove a car packed with explosives into the entrance of a paramilitary police college in Issers, near Boumerdes, about 50km (31 miles) east of Algiers.

ATTACKS IN ALGERIA 2007-2008 19 August 2008: 43 killed by suicide bombing outside police college in Issers 10 August 2008: Eight killed by suicide bombing outside police station in Zemmouri 8 June 2008: French engineer and driver killed east of Algiers 5 June 2008: Roadside bomb kills six soldiers east of Algiers January 2008: Suicide bombing kills four policemen in Naciria December 2007: Twin car bombs kill at least 37 including 10 UN staff in Algiers 8 September 2007: 32 die in bombing in Dellys 6 September 2007: 22 die in bombing in Batna July 2007: Suicide bomber targets barracks near Bouira, killing nine April 2007: 33 killed in attacks on government offices and a police station in Algiers

That attack hit military police recruits who were waiting outside the building before an exam.

The government said 41 of those killed were civilians.

After Tuesday’s attacks, Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said militants were trying to “loosen the net closing around them”.

Algeria’s government has long said Islamist insurgents are desperately seeking to raise their profile as they are isolated by security forces.

There have been no immediate claims of responsibility for this week’s attacks.

Previous bombings have been claimed by the North African branch of al-Qaeda, known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Those included twin suicide car bombings in Algiers – one against the offices of the UN – that killed at least 37 people in December.

In recent years, Algeria has been slowly recovering from a conflict that began in 1992 when the army intervened to stop hardline Islamists winning the country’s first multi-party elections.

Violence has been greatly reduced since the 1990s, but since last year there have been a series of devastating suicide bombings and several attacks against international targets.

The attacks have largely been claimed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which was formed from the remnants of Algeria’s insurgency and was previously known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat.

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