Suicide attack in northern Algeria kills at least two

29/01/2008

A car bomb exploded early Tuesday morning outside a police station in the Algerian city of Thénia, leaving two dead and 23 injured. The attack comes a day after authorities killed a suspected architect of the December 11th bombings.

By Said Jameh and Boualam Senhadji for Magharebia in Algiers – 29/01/08

[Getty Images] Algerian women comfort each other after their house was seriously damaged by a suicide attack on a nearby police station in the northern Algerian city of Thenia on Tuesday (January 29th).

An early-morning suicide bomb attack on an Algerian police station in Thénia, east of Algiers, killed at least two people and injured 23 others Tuesday (January 29th).

Communications Minister Abderrachid Boukerzaza, who announced the death toll, denied media reports claiming the suicide bomber was a woman. He said security forces are currently working on determining the identity of the attacker. Boukerzaza added that a special government committee created to deal with the aftermath of the explosion has already provided housing for 20 families whose homes were damaged.

Eyewitnesses reported that at about 6:00 AM local time, when town residents still had not left their homes for work, the suicide bomber drove a van towards a building housing the police station, a restaurant and a number of shops.

"I saw the vehicle blow up with my own eyes at 6:25, and more than ten bodies on the ground," said Smaine, who owns a shop close to the police station. Smaine told Magharebia that the car, "which was driven by a suicide bomber, didn’t crash into the police station [but] exploded a few metres from the building." Other witnesses concurred, stating that police "fired at the vehicle before it could get to the building."

The director of Thénia hospital, Hakim Bey, said that "two of those injured and considered to be in a serious condition were taken to Zmirli hospital in Algiers." He added that teams of specialists were sent to the site of the attack to offer psychological help to the injured.

The explosion caused considerable panic among the residents. Many adjacent buildings were hard hit, with their outer walls falling and their ceilings collapsing on the residents. However, the police station did not sustain any damage.

The operation comes just one day after authorities announced they had killed terrorist leader Abderrahmane Bouzegza, emir of the Farouq Battalion which operates in the area of Beni Amrane in Boumerdès Province, and arrested 4 aides. In its January 29th edition, Al Watan daily said Bouzegza was the architect of the December 11th suicide bombings in Algiers which killed 41 people. He and his group were reportedly preparing to carry out other bomb attacks in the capital. Security sources said the four detainees included two scouts who led the suicide bombers to the chosen targets and two terrorists who filmed the scenes after the blasts.

In an effort to destroy the strongholds of the al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, Algerian security agencies have been hunting terror suspects in provinces east of the capital, especially in Boumerdès and Tizi Ouzou and in the mountains of the Kabylia region. Local newspapers confirmed that Special Forces seized caches in the town of Cherarba used by the terror group to manufacture improvised explosive devices and vehicle-borne bombs.

Today’s attack east of Algiers is the second suicide operation of its kind carried out by al-Qaeda since the beginning of the New Year. On January 2nd, a similar attack targeting a police headquarters in the town of Naciria, also located in Boumerdès Province, killed 4 security officers.

No organisation has claimed responsibility for the Thénia bombing.