Two car bombs in Algiers kill, injure dozens

11/12/2007

Two bombings in the centre of Algiers on Tuesday morning have left over 60 dead and many more injured. Eyewitnesses have recounted similarities to the fatal attacks of April 11th.

By Boualam Senhadji for Magharebia in Algiers – 11/12/07

[Getty Images] Algerian rescue workers and bomb experts stand in front of a destroyed building near the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) offices.

Two car bombs detonated Tuesday morning (December 11th) outside an Algiers court building and a UN facility, leaving over 60 people dead, scores injured and others still missing in the rubble of collapsed buildings.

When the first car bomb exploded at 9:50 a.m. outside the Constitutional Council in the downtown district of Ben Aknoun, it was heard up to 15 kilometres away. A bus carrying law students to class along the major thoroughfare was crushed in the blast. Early reports placed the death toll at fifteen, with dozens injured.

Just as police, ambulance and security forces were approaching the site of the bombing, another explosion rocked Ben Aknoun. A second car bomb destroyed a large part of the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the neighbouring residential district of Hydra.

Speaking on Algerian television, Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said an eyewitness had seen a suicide bomber behind the wheel of one of the cars which exploded outside the UNHCR office.

The explosion also damaged offices of the United Nations Development Programme, but witnesses reported the most lives were lost in the UNHCR complex.

In this stylish district of the capital, the explosion also brought down many buildings in the surrounding area. Many victims were trapped in the debris, and security forces expect the death toll to rise considerably.

Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the Arab League, strongly condemned the terrorist attacks and offered his condolences to the families of those killed and wounded. In a public statement the Arab League condemned what it called an "unjustifiable act of terrorism" and denounced the terrorist acts "and everything they represent or hope to achieve." Moussa expressed the Arab League's solidarity with the Algerian government and people in their fight against terrorism which "targets the innocent and tries to undermine the country's security and stability."

European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner issued a statement from Brussels, condemning the attacks. "My thoughts are with the families of those killed," she said. "I hope that those responsible for these horrible acts will face justice."

In a telephone call to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the attacks as "barbarian acts."

For the moment, no organisation has claimed responsibility for the today's twin attacks, but to some analysts it appears to be the work of al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. Algerians have noted similarities to the April bombings in Algiers, which killed 33 people and injured more than 220.

Just months ago, Algeria suffered two terrorist attacks which killed more than 50 people and wounded 150 more. On September 6th, a suicide attack targeted the site of a scheduled visit by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Batna, in the east of the country. On September 8th, another suicide car bomb attack was launched on a barracks in Dellys, 70 kilometres east of Algiers.