Al-Qaeda bombings killed 72 in Algiers: report

Dec 12, 2007, 8:05 GMT

Paris/Algiers - The double car bombings carried out by a branch of the al-Qaeda terrorist network in the Algerian capital Algiers on Tuesday killed at least 72 people, the Algerian daily El Watan reported on Wednesday.

Citing hospital sources, the newspaper said that some 200 people were injured in the bombings, for which the group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility.

If the figures are confirmed, it would make Tuesday's bombings the worst terrorist attack in Algeria in nearly a decade, since the days when the country was in the throes of a bloody civil war.

The latest official figures, provided late Tuesday by the Algerian Interior Ministry, put the death toll at 26, with another 177 people injured.

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 various United Nations agencies, including the World Food Programme, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Population Fund and the International Labour Organization.

In New York, a UN spokeswoman said at least 11 UN staff members had been killed in the terrorist attack.

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.

A local UN employee told France 2 television, 'I was in my office and about to go out with a friend. Then I heard an explosion and everything fell on top of me.'

The attacks were widely condemned by the international community, with US President George W Bush saying they were carried out by 'enemies of humanity.'