Paris, Dec 12 (DPA) Twin car bombings in the Algerian capital, Algiers, left dozens of people dead and hundreds injured in an attack for which terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility.
On an Islamic internet site, the group said the bombings had been carried out by two suicide bombers, whose photographs were published on the site.
The Algerian interior ministry said at least 26 people died and 177 were injured in the attacks, which struck the Algerian capital Tuesday morning. Algerian hospital sources have put the death toll at 67.
If the higher number of victims is confirmed, it would make Tuesday’s attacks the bloodiest act of its kind in nearly a decade in Algeria, since the country was in the throes of a ferocious civil war.
One of the car bombs exploded near a bus carrying law students in the vicinity of the Algerian Supreme Court and the Constitutional Council. The second explosion took place in a nearby residential district, in front of the building housing the various UN offices.
The car bombs were detonated within 10 minutes of each other around 10 am local time. The powerful explosions badly damaged a number of buildings and shattered windows within a radius of several hundred metres.
In New York, a UN spokeswoman said at least five UN staff were among the dead. Fourteen other UN staff remained missing in the attacks, spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.
The bombings destroyed the office of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), which also housed other UN agencies, including the World Food Programme, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Population Fund and the International Labour Organisation.
It was one of deadliest attacks against the UN since the destruction of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003, which killed 22 UN personnel, including the head of the UN mission in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
The UN said it was working with Algerian authorities to determine the number of casualties and those who may still be missing.
Algerian hospital sources said other foreigners were also killed in the blasts. A large number of students aboard the bus died because of the proximity of the explosion to their vehicle. The terrorist attacks were broadly condemned by world leaders.
President George W. Bush expressed condolences to families of the victims. The administration stands with Algerians and the UN “as they deal with this senseless violence”, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
“We condemn this attack on the UN office by these enemies of humanity who attack the innocent,” she told reporters in Washington.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the bombings as “a new form of human barbarism”, and telephoned Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to express his solidarity.
The Portuguese government, which holds the rotating EU presidency, also renounced the attacks in the name of the Union.
“These horrific attacks clearly demonstrate that terrorism is a threat to all states and to all peoples … No cause, no grievance, can justify acts of terrorism,” the statement said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement that he condemned the attacks “in the strongest possible terms”.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in Geneva: “It’s a tragedy and I want to express my deepest condolences to UN staff, to their families and to the Algerian people – all of whom were victimised by this absolutely intolerable attack.”
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has carried out several bloody attacks in Algeria since the beginning of the year, when it officially changed its name from the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
On Sep 6 and 8, the group carried out car bombings at an Algerian naval barracks in Dellys and in Batna, killing more than 50 people.
On April 11, it claimed responsibility for two bombings in Algiers, including one at the offices of Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, in which 33 people died and some 200 were injured.