Suicide truck bomb kills 10 near Algiers
Pastor Dale Morgan
Suicide truck bomb kills 10 near Algiers
*
* Story Highlights
* Suicide truck blows up inside a military encampment southeast of
capital
* 10 soldiers killed, 35 wounded when truck drove into post on edge
of Lakhdaria
* Biggest attack since bombings three months ago killed 30 people in
Algiers
* Official: Al Qaeda group behind Algiers attack; new recruit did
truck bombing
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- A suicide bomber blew up a refrigerated truck
packed with explosives inside a military encampment southeast of the
Algerian capital Wednesday, killing 10 soldiers and wounding up to 35, a
security official said.
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A truck lies shattered, blown up by a suicide bomber in a military
encampment near Algiers Wednesday.
The truck drove into the post on the edge of Lakhdaria, a town 48 miles
southeast of Algiers in the restive region of Kabylie, as the doors
opened in the morning for arriving personnel, the security official said
on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to discuss the
bombing.
The official said eight people died in the initial blast and two more
soldiers died on their way to a hospital, bringing the total number of
deaths to 10 with 35 injured.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the biggest
since suicide bombings three months ago in Algiers that killed 30 people
and injured more than 200. An extremist group called al Qaeda in Islamic
North Africa, formerly the GSPC, claimed responsibility for that attack.
The suicide bomber in Wednesday's attack was one of four youths who
joined the group about a month ago, the security official said.
The explosion sparked panic in a region that saw widespread violence
during the 1990s at the height of an Islamic insurgency. Security
remains tight in the area.
Soldiers fanned out throughout the region after the bombing and security
was increased at the Algiers airport with thorough checks of all cars
and passengers that caused extended flight delays. Extra roadblock
checkpoints went up around the capital.
The bombing came on the opening day of the Africa Games, one of the
continent's biggest sporting events with venues in Algiers and the towns
of Blida, south of the capital, and Boumerdes, to the east. Lakhdaria
sits midway between Blida and Boumerdes.
Thousands of athletes from 52 countries have come to compete in 27
sports. The games are held every four years.
More than 8,000 police have been deployed since July 2 for the games at
36 sites used for the event, according to the daily Liberte.
Algeria has been seeking to turn the page on an Islamic insurgency that
has killed as many as 200,000 people since the army called off elections
in 1992 that an Islamist party was expected to win. While large-scale
violence died down in the 1990s, scattered attacks by the al Qaeda
affiliate have mounted in recent months.
Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for a December
attack that targeted a bus carrying foreign employees of an affiliate of
the U.S. company Halliburton, killing an Algerian and a Lebanese
citizen. The group has also threatened France.
Wednesday's attack came the morning after French President Nicolas
Sarkozy visited Algiers.
Last week, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika gave a saber-rattling
speech to army officers on the country's Independence Day, denouncing
"enemies of the people" trying to disrupt national unity.
That same day, a bomb hit the convoy of a top official in the Tizi-Ouzou
region east of the capital. Security officials blamed the attack on
al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa.