Algeria holds 11 over attack
2007-10-03 19:57
Algiers - Algerian authorities have detained 11 people on suspicion of involvement in a failed assassination attempt against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a local daily said on Wednesday.
An investigating judge ordered the detentions on Monday
after the 11 were arrested in connection with a September 6 bomb attack that killed at least 22 people waiting to greet
Bouteflika, Le Quotidien d'Oran added, citing judiciary sources.
Al Qaeda's North Africa wing, Qaeda Organisation in the
Islamic Maghreb, claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing
targetting Bouteflika in the eastern town of Batna, the paper
added.
The independent daily gave no further details including the
charges or the date of a possible trial. Government officials
were not immediately available for comment.
Violence in Algeria broke out in 1992 after the then
military-backed authorities, fearing an Iran-style revolution,
scrapped a parliamentary election that an Islamist political
party, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), was set to win.
Up to 200 000 people have been killed in the ensuing
bloodshed although the violence has subsided sharply in recent
years.