Algeria: Bomb blast kills 43

  1. Posted on Friday 19 June 2009 - 08:29
    KingsleyKobo
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    Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
    A suicide bombing at a military college in Algeria has killed at least 43 people and injured dozens more on Thursday. The attack took place at a gendarmerie training school in Issers, 35 miles east of Algiers (capital), where dozens of teenagers were queuing to sign up for an entrance exam.
    algeria map
    Eye witnesses told AFP reporters that the attacker drove a car packed with explosives towards the crowded main entrance of the school and the charge later detonated.

    Algeria’s interior ministry said emergency services were working to free survivors from the wreckage, but that death toll was likely to rise.

    It is the deadliest terrorist strike in two years, which is signaling the resurgent of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, although there was no immediate claim of responsibility. Civilians as well as police officers were among the victims.

    In recent months, the mountainous region east of Algiers has seen numerous attacks by al Qaeda’s north Africa wing, which is fighting to set up a purist Islamic rule in Algeria – a major oil and gas supplier to Europe.

    In a related development, a BBC report said Islamist militants have killed 24 Algerian paramilitary policemen - in one of the worst single attacks this year. They were ambushed near the settlement of Mansoura, east of the capital, said Algerian newspapers. The convoy was reportedly escorting Chinese workers.

    There has been no official confirmation of the incident.

    Algeria's militants, many veterans of the 1990s civil war, operate under the name al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The ambush - reported by the En-Nahar and Echourouk newspapers, and confirmed by unnamed local sources to the AFP and AP news agencies - is said to have occurred late on Wednesday.

    The paramilitary police were reported to be escorting Chinese contractors to a motorway project; it is not known if any of the workers were injured.

    The attackers had planted two improvised devices on the road 200km (124 miles) east of the capital, Algiers, and then opened fire on the convoy as the explosives went off, said reports.

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