ALGIERS–A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-rigged car into an Algerian police academy as recruits lined up to register for classes, killing at least 43 people. It was the deadliest attack in the North African country since the 1990s.
The Algerian interior ministry said 42 civilians and a police officer were killed in the attack early yesterday in the town of Les Issers, some 55 kilometres east of the capital, Algiers, the state-run APS news agency said.
Thirteen of the wounded were gendarmes – armed paramilitary soldiers.
The bombing follows several recent attacks by Al Qaeda's North African wing, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The local Al Qaeda affiliate has claimed several attacks including the twin suicide bombings of UN offices and a court building in Algiers in December 2007 which killed 41 people.
"Most of the dead were young men aged between 18 and 20. They were in line waiting to enter the school for recruiting exams when they were mowed down by the blast," a witness said.
Many young Algerians see military jobs as the ticket to a better future amid fierce competition for their hearts and minds between the military and radical Islamists, analysts say.
The blast ripped off parts of the policy academy's roof, and damaged its façade. Photos transmitted by APS showed bodies wrapped in yellow plastic bags or blankets lying amid the rubble.
Nearby houses and passing cars were also damaged. Witnesses said all roads within three kilometres of Les Issers were blocked and cellphone networks were scrambled as police closed off the area.
Conflict began in Algeria in 1992 when a military-backed government scrapped elections a radical Islamic party was poised to win. About 150,000 people have died in the ensuing violence. The bloodshed has eased in recent years but a hard core of several hundred rebels fight on as part of Al Qaeda's affiliate, previously known as Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.
Yesterday's bombing came two days after a militant ambush in Skirda, 480 kilometres east of Algiers, which killed 12 people, according to the Al Watan newspaper.
With files from Reuters
