Suicide bomber kills eight
2008-08-10 23:42
Algiers - A suicide bomber rammed a van full of explosives into a police post in eastern Algeria, killing eight people and injuring 19 others, public radio reported on Sunday.
The attack happened overnight at Zemmouri el-Bahri, a popular beach with holidaymakers, near Boumerdes, east of the capital Algiers.
It came less than a week after a suicide attack on a police station at Tizi Ouzou, in the eastern Kabylie region, which wounded 25 people.
Responsibility for the August 3 attack was claimed by al-Qaeda's North African branch.
The group also claimed an attack on July 23, in which police said a suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up and injured 13 Algerian soldiers in Lakhdaria, also east of Algiers.
This weekend's blast represents the heaviest toll since two suicide blasts on United Nations buildings in Algiers in December that killed at least 41 people - including 18 UN staffers.
Armed groups in Boumerdes, neighbouring the mountainous wooded region of Kabylie, remain the most active in Algeria.
Unofficial sources estimate there are 300 to 400 armed militants in this area, dubbed the "quadrangle of death".
The Saturday night attack came three weeks before the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, considered a peak period for "jihad" or holy war.
Anti-terrorism experts say Algiers, which has been placed under heavy security surveillance, remains the main target of armed groups and that several attacks have been intercepted here.