afrol News, 20 August - Twin bombings in eastern Algerian town of Bouira killed 11, wounding 31 today. The attack follows another blast yesterday at the police academy which claimed 43 lives leaving 38 injured.

Reports said one of the attacks targeted a passenger bus parked near Sophie hotel in the city centre. The second bomb went off near military headquarters in Bouira, 120 kilometres southeast of capital Algiers.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for the bombings, Algerian media outlets attributed them to the radical Islamic groups which plunged the country into a decade-long civil war in 1991.

Witnesses reported that a security cordon was immediately thrown around scene of the blasts. A hotel’s night watchman was in a shock when he saw a powerful explosion rock the building blowing out windows as he was at his post, said press service.

According to witnesses, latest attack resulted after an attacker drove a car packed with explosives at the main entrance to the school as candidates for an entry exam were waiting outside killing 43 people and injuring 45 in Issers, 60 kilometres east of Algiers.

Mostly were university graduates waiting outside to take an entry and hoping to join paramilitary police force.

Al-Qaeda claimed previous attacks in Algeria and neighbouring Morocco but officials gave no indication that was behind yesterday’s strike in Issers.

An Algeria based group which declared allegiance to Al-Qaeda and renamed itself Al-Qaeda’s branch in Islamic Maghreb last year and those attacks were claimed by Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).

In December 2006, 41 people died in a suicide bombing which targeted government buildings in United Nations offices in Algiers.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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