Deadly explosions rock Algerian capital

11/04/2007

In the most violent such attack in years, suicide bombers struck two locations in Algiers on Wednesday morning. Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem was an apparent target in one bombing, and has condemned the attacks as "criminal and cowardly".

Lyes Aflou in Algiers contributed to this report -- 11/04/2007

[Getty Images] The first car bomb targeted the offices of Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem

Just a day after police raids resulted in multiple explosions in neighbouring Morocco, two bombings rocked the Algerian capital of Algiers. As many as four vehicles rigged with explosives exploded in the city just moments apart, shortly before noon Wednesday (April 11th), leaving dozens dead.

The first bomb targeted a government building in downtown Algiers, and the others a police station in Bab Ezzouar, a neighbourhood east of the capital near the international airport. In a preliminary report, security officials announced a death toll of 30, with as many as 110 injured.

In central Algiers, a car bomb exploded near the offices of Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, killing many police officers and passers-by, and injuring dozens of others. Windows of neighbouring buildings and vehicles parked on the street were shattered by the blast, spraying the area with glass and other debris out to 200 metres. The shredded bodies of victims littered the sidewalks as the first ambulances began to arrive.

The Bab Ezzouar bomb severely damaged a police station and destroyed a power station belonging to electric company Sonelagaz.

The two attacks were nearly simultaneous, occurring at approximately 10:45 local time.

At midday, glass and other debris from the attack still covered the scene in central Algiers, radiating out from the entrance of the massive government building which also houses the interior ministry. One eyewitness said a thick cloud of black smoke billowed out from the site of the violent explosion, and the façade of the Government Palace had buckled outward from the damage.

Upon visiting the site, Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem condemned the attacks as "criminal and cowardly, perpetrated at a time when the Algerian people seek national reconciliation".

Abdelkrim Dahmane, a representative of the Society of Peace Movement (MSP), an Islamist party in parliament, spoke out against the attacks in an interview with al-Jazeera, putting them in the same category as the explosions in Casablanca the previous day.

A representative of Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), claimed responsibility for the bombings in a call to al-Jazeera.

The attack is the worst of its kind Algiers has seen in years. Area resident Yasmina Kabli, walked past the Government Palace just moments before the explosion, and felt the attacks signalled a return to the dark days in Algiers, when bombs routinely interrupted the city's daily life.

Algeria will hold legislative elections on May 17th, and many fear the attacks represent a push by Islamist militants to disrupt the democratic process.

The two attacks came just days after a fierce exchange between the army and an Islamist group on Saturday evening near Ain Defla, west of Algiers, during which nine soldiers were killed. The army is also in the third week of a large-scale cordon and search operation against militants in Bejaia, in the Kabylia region east of the capital.