At least 23 people were killed and 162 injured in Algeria yesterday as suicide bombers struck the capital, raising the spectre of a return to Islamist terrorism that spread mayhem across the country in the 1990s.

The explosions came 24 hours after a series of suicide bombs in neighbouring Morocco had fuelled fears of a regional extremist campaign, although Moroccan authorities deny that the attacks are linked.

In a blow to the heart of the State, one vehicle exploded as it hit the offices of Abdelaziz Belkhadem, the Prime Minister, in central Algiers. He escaped unhurt but officials said that 12 people had died and 118 were injured in the blast, which came seven months after the main terrorist movement in Algeria joined al-Qaeda.

The explosion blew a gaping hole in the six-storey colonial-era block that the Prime Minister shares with the Interior Ministry and sent a shower of glass and rubble over a 300-metre radius.

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Al-Qaeda is reportedly trying to unify jihadist factions in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya under one banner

Sean O'Neill

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Almost simultaneously 11 people died and at least 44 were injured as two car bombs exploded in the Bab Ezzouar district on the road to Algiers international airport.

One destroyed an electricity station and a second damaged the district police station.

The North African branch of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks in an internet statement that included photographs of what it said were the suicide bombers.

The scenes in Algiers were grimly reminiscent of the terrorist war that cost up to 200,000 lives between 1992 and 1998. That came after the first multiparty elections since the country gained independence from France in 1962. The army moved in to halt the poll when it became clear that an Islamic party was on the way to victory and the military quelled terrorist activity ruthlessly.

The bombings yesterday appeared to signal an end to the policy of national reconciliation championed by President Bouteflika.

As dozens of ambulances headed towards the bomb sites and fire officers struggled to contain the ensuing blazes, survivors, many bleeding, were led to safety through a pall of thick black smoke. Passers-by looked on in despair. Leila Aissaoui, 25, was in tears as she said: “I thought explosions in Algiers were over. I made a big mistake and I can’t accept this.”

Tahar bin Taleb, a lawyer, said: “My wife called me. I ran home to find all the mirrors and windows in the house were shattered.” The attacks were denounced as criminal and cowardly by Mr Belkhadem.

Security experts cautioned of a fresh outbreak of violence when, on September 11 last year, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda second-in-command, announced a formal merger with the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), one of the most violent organisations to emerge from the bloody civil war in Algeria. The announcement came within days of the expiry of the Government’s six-month amnesty for militants and sparked an up-surge in terrorist activity by the GSPC. The union was further cemented in January, when the GSPC declared that it would be known as the al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb.

The targets for the resurgent group’s bombers in Algiers yesterday appeared to adhere to the GSPC’s domestic agenda of attacking police and government buildings. But other recent attacks have been directed at the oil and gas industries, which employ foreign workers and export energy to the West.

GSPC propaganda has railed against France and the US for “stealing” Muslim assets. This type of activity reflects the al-Qaeda agenda of attacking Western, especially American, interests in the Islamic world. Al-Zawahiri’s reported aim in creating the new al-Qaeda in the Maghreb is to unify jihadist factions in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya.

The GSPC was identified as the lead group because of its long association with al-Qaeda — dating back to the Afghan camps of the 1990s — and because it has established highly effective mobile training centres in the Sahara. Western intelligence sources fear that those jihadis who survive Iraq can return to North Africa and be redeployed across Europe.

A history of violence

1962 Algeria gains independence from France

1976 New constitution creates a one-party Islamic socialist state. Political opposition remains banned until 1989

1992 Mohamed Boudiaf leads military takeover. Islamic terror campaign begins with Boudiaf's assassination

2000 Violence ongoing despite negotiations with main terror groups. Death toll since 1992 reaches 100,000

2005 Referendum approves amnesty for terrorists

2006 SeptemberTerror leader Rabah Kebir urges fighters to disarm

2006 December Roadside bomb kills US oil worker. Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat claims responsibility

2007 Salafist Group renamed al-Qaeda Organisation in Islamic Maghreb

Source: University of Essex

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