Al Qaeda claims deadly Algiers bombings

ALGIERS: Bombs killed 30 people in Algeria's capital on Wednesday, attacks claimed by al Qaeda that raised fears the north African oil exporter was slipping back into the intense political violence of the 1990s.   

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. A second bomb hit Bab Ezzouar on its eastern outskirts, the official APS news agency said.   

Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa claimed responsibility for the deadly bomb attacks, publishing photographs of the three alleged suicide bombers in an Internet statement.   

The statement on an Islamist website often used by the Al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden said three militants carried out the car bombings which it said killed at least 53 people. Algerian officials said at least 23 people died and more than 160 were wounded in the attacks.   

The statement, whose authenticity could not be verified, said that Mouadh ben Jabel detonated 700 kilos of explosives outside the prime minister's office "killing 45 and wounding an unknown number, as well as partially destroying the building."   

Fellow suicide bomber Zoubeir Abou Sajida attacked Interpol's offices with a similar sized charge in the eastern suburb of Bab Ezzouar "destroying the building and killing at least eight apostates," it said.   

A third bomber, Abou Dajjana, blew up 500 kilos of explosives on the road to Algiers airport, also in Bab Ezzouar, in an attack targeting "police special forces headquarters ... destroying the building, killing and wounding many apostates."   

The pictures accompanying the statement showed three men wearing traditional Tuareg headscarves, each flanked by two assault rifles. Only one of the men had his face uncovered.   

The statement from the "Al-Qaeda Movement in Islamic Countries of the Maghreb" promised more attacks.   

"We will not be in peace until we have liberated all the land of Islam from crusaders, apostates and agents, and we have retaken our Andalusia (in southern Spain) and our violated Al-Quds (Jerusalem)."   

It said the group had carried out several anti-government attacks in Algeria since April 1.

Meanwhile, hospital sources put the toll from the two bombings at 30. Earlier, the official APS news agency put the toll at 17 dead with 82 wounded.   

Leila Aissaoui, 25, stood crying near the government palace.   

"I thought explosions in Algiers were over," she said. "I made a big mistake and I can't accept this."   

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 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.       

The blast at the prime minister's headquarters gouged a gaping hole in the six-storey building, shattering windows and showering rubble on to cars for blocks around.   

Police sources said the attack was a suicide bombing.   

Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, who was not harmed, was quoted by APS as calling the attack a "criminal and cowardly act". Speaking to state television, he described the blast as a terrorist attack.   

"At first I thought it was an earthquake," said lawyer Tahar bin Taleb. "My wife called me a few moments later crying and shouting. I ran home to find all the mirrors and windows in the house were shattered."   

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.   

"I am horrified and indignant after the attacks which have just struck Algiers," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said in a statement.   

"I convey my sincerest condolences to the victims' families and assure the Algerian authorities of our full solidarity in their fight against terrorism." France ruled Algeria before independence in 1962.   

One Algerian analyst said the operation appeared to be a reply to stepped-up attacks by the army on Islamist insurgents in the Bejaia region in mountains east of Algiers.   

"This is a violent reaction to Bejaia operation where important leaders of al Qaeda in the Maghreb are surrounded," said security expert Anis Rahmani.   

"I do believe though, that that group has no capability to topple the government but obviously it has the means to disturb the life of peaceful people in Algiers."