[ 2011-08-27 ]

18 dead in Algeria military school bombing
ALGIERS (AFP) - Eighteen people have been killed
and dozens wounded in a suicide bombing at the
Cherchell military academy west of Algiers, a
hospital source has said.

Eight of those wounded in the attack, the first
against the academy since a terror campaign
started in the 1990s in Algeria, were in very
serious condition, the French-language daily El
Watan reported on its website.

The attack by two suicide bombers took place 100
kilometres (60 miles) west of the Algerian
capital, around 10 minutes after the breaking of
the Ramadan fast at 1830 GMT.

The bombers, one on a motorcycle, set off
explosions a few seconds apart in front of the
entrance to the officers' mess hall, El Watan
said.

A hospital source said the dead included 16
soldiers and two civilians.

The wounded were evacuated to hospitals in the
nearby towns of Sidi Ghiles and Tipaza, as well as
to the army's central Ain-Naadja hospital in
Algiers, the source said.

According to El Watan, the suicide bombers tried
to cause as many casualties as possible by
targeting the officers' mess just as all the
soldiers were assembled to break the fast.

The reports were not confirmed by official
sources.

Authorities generally remain tight-lipped about
such incidents which have not ended despite the
policy of national reconciliation adopted in the
early 2000s by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Under this policy many Islamist fighters have been
offered pardons in exchange for laying down their
arms.

The Cherchell Academy was set up by France during
the war after the Allied landings in North Africa
on November 8, 1942. It remained an officers'
college after Algerian independence.

Ramadan is generally considered a good time for
holy war, or jihad, by Islamist groups. Since the
fast started in early August, there have been many
attacks east of Algiers, especially in Kabylia,
targeting the army and police.

Late Tuesday two policemen and a soldier were
killed in two separate attacks in the Bordj Bou
Arreridj region, 220 kilometres southeast of the
capital, and in Boumerdes, 50 kilometres east of
Algiers.

Most attacks are attributed to Al-Qaeda's North
African offshoot, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Source - AFP

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