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Algerian Police Officials Are Target Of Bombing

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By AOMAR OUALI, The Associated Press

Published: September 15, 2007

ALGIERS, Algeria - A bomb hidden in a bag exploded outside a compound housing Algerian police officials Friday, killing three people, security officials said.

The attack came as tensions ran high after two deadly terrorist attacks last week by al-Qaida's North Africa affiliate, both against state targets.

The latest explosion hit in the town of Zemmouri, 30 miles east of Algiers, residents said. Eight wounded people were sent to a hospital. Three of them died, according to a medical official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The bomb was hidden in a bag and placed at the entrance to the police housing compound, adjacent to an open-air market, the official said.

The attack hit about midway between Algiers and the coastal town of Dellys where a car bombing Saturday killed 28 coast guard officers. Two days earlier, at least 22 people were killed when a bomb ripped through a crowd waiting for the president in Batna.

Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, the new name for a group long known as the GSPC, has claimed responsibility for both attacks.

The group has carried out a spate of recent bombings that have shattered the Algerian government's efforts to restore calm after 15 years of Islamist insurgency.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has responded by intensifying military crackdowns on Islamic militants.

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