ALGERIAN PM DEFIANT AFTER BOMBS !
The attacks in Algiers are the worst in the capital for years. Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem says parliamentary polls will take place as planned next month despite two bombings in the capital.
The death toll has risen to 33, with 222 hurt in Wednesday's suicide attacks - one targeting Mr Belkhadem's office.
He said it was a deliberate provocation before the elections, adding that those who resort to violence exclude themselves from the political process.
A person claiming to be a spokesman for al-Qaeda said it organised the attack.
This is a crime, a cowardly act - Abdelaziz BelkhademAlgerian Prime Minister.
The death toll has risen to 33, with 222 hurt in Wednesday's suicide attacks - one targeting Mr Belkhadem's office.
He said it was a deliberate provocation before the elections, adding that those who resort to violence exclude themselves from the political process.
A person claiming to be a spokesman for al-Qaeda said it organised the attack.
This is a crime, a cowardly act - Abdelaziz BelkhademAlgerian Prime Minister.
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There has been no independent verification of the claim.
The first attack was carried out by a bomber who drove a car laden with explosives into a guard post outside the prime minister's office.
Minutes later, men driving two cars triggered explosions at a police station in the eastern district of Bab Ezzouar, close to the international airport.
Loud explosion
The violence comes a day after the authorities in neighbouring Morocco said they had foiled a plot by suicide bombers to target foreign and strategic interests by suicide bombers.
Three suspects blew themselves up after being pursued by the authorities, and a fourth was shot dead by police. It also follows clashes with militants in Tunisia earlier this year.
Violent attacks have been increasing in Algeria since the main Islamist rebel group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), changed its name to the al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb in January.
Al-Jazeera TV said this was the group that claimed responsibility for Wednesday's violence.
BBC Arab Affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi says many analysts will link the surge in violence with the ambitions of the Algerian hardline organisation to spread its campaign to neighbouring countries.
The city centre explosion was so loud it could be heard up to 10km (six miles) away, residents said.
Government employees were injured by flying glass and debris, which spread up to 300m (yards) from the site of the blasts.
Ambulances went to the scene and police blocked entry to the prime minister's office, which also houses the offices of the interior minister.
Alarm bells
Our analyst says the attacks are a serious blow for the Algerian authorities which have for years fought Islamist militants.
Despite an amnesty announced two years ago, the violence in Algeria has never completely died down since its height in the mid-1990s.
The latest violence will revive painful memories of that civil strife that lasted for a decade and left an estimated 150,000 people dead.
Magdi Abdelhadi says the spectre of a resurgent al-Qaeda operating in North Africa, close to Europe's southern border, will send the alarm bells ringing in European capitals.
It may also have a devastating impact on the prospect of more open and democratic societies in the region.
He says that as in other Arab states, the authorities have used the threat of terror in the past to curb civil and political freedoms.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The first attack was carried out by a bomber who drove a car laden with explosives into a guard post outside the prime minister's office.
Minutes later, men driving two cars triggered explosions at a police station in the eastern district of Bab Ezzouar, close to the international airport.
Loud explosion
The violence comes a day after the authorities in neighbouring Morocco said they had foiled a plot by suicide bombers to target foreign and strategic interests by suicide bombers.
Three suspects blew themselves up after being pursued by the authorities, and a fourth was shot dead by police. It also follows clashes with militants in Tunisia earlier this year.
Violent attacks have been increasing in Algeria since the main Islamist rebel group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), changed its name to the al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb in January.
Al-Jazeera TV said this was the group that claimed responsibility for Wednesday's violence.
BBC Arab Affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi says many analysts will link the surge in violence with the ambitions of the Algerian hardline organisation to spread its campaign to neighbouring countries.
The city centre explosion was so loud it could be heard up to 10km (six miles) away, residents said.
Government employees were injured by flying glass and debris, which spread up to 300m (yards) from the site of the blasts.
Ambulances went to the scene and police blocked entry to the prime minister's office, which also houses the offices of the interior minister.
Alarm bells
Our analyst says the attacks are a serious blow for the Algerian authorities which have for years fought Islamist militants.
Despite an amnesty announced two years ago, the violence in Algeria has never completely died down since its height in the mid-1990s.
The latest violence will revive painful memories of that civil strife that lasted for a decade and left an estimated 150,000 people dead.
Magdi Abdelhadi says the spectre of a resurgent al-Qaeda operating in North Africa, close to Europe's southern border, will send the alarm bells ringing in European capitals.
It may also have a devastating impact on the prospect of more open and democratic societies in the region.
He says that as in other Arab states, the authorities have used the threat of terror in the past to curb civil and political freedoms.
posted by jackaranda at 4:22 pm
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