கோயம்புத்தூர் குண்டுவெடிப்பு வழக்குபோலவே அல்ஜீரியாவிலும் குண்டுவெடிப்பின் பின்னர் மன்னிப்பு வழங்கி விடுவிக்கப்பட்ட இஸ்லாமிய பயங்கரவாதிகள் மீண்டும் நடத்திய தற்கொலை வெடிகுண்டு தாக்குதலில் 35 பேர் பலியானார்கள்.
Algeria bombers were two freed but convicted terrorists
December 15, 2007 12:00am
TWO convicted terrorists who had been freed in an amnesty carried out the suicide bombings in Algeria that killed 37 people, a security official said.
One was a 64-year-old man in the advanced stages of cancer.
The other was a 32-year-old from a poor suburb that has produced many Islamic militants.
The security official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak.
The Government has offered amnesties to try to end a 15-year Islamic insurgency, resulting in thousands of militants turning themselves in but sparking fierce criticism from victims' families.
Al-Qaida's self-styled North African branch has claimed responsibility for the twin truck bombings on Tuesday, which came 10 minutes apart.
Victims included United Nations staff from around the world, police officers and law students.
US President George W. Bush called Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to discuss the attacks and offer his condolences, press secretary Dana Perino said.
"President Bush reiterated his commitment to continuing US counter-terrorism co-operation in North Africa to bring the perpetrators to justice," Ms Perino said.
The Interior Ministry raised the death toll to 37, saying six more bodies had been found in the rubble of the UN offices.
In a posting on a militant website, al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa said the UN offices were "the headquarters of the international infidels' den".
The Algerian security official identified the older bomber, who struck the UN offices, as Chebli Brahim, who was suffering from cancer and had lost two sons to army crackdowns on militants.
Brahim was a member of the Muslim fundamentalist party Islamic Salvation Front, arrested after the Government banned the party, the official said.
The younger bomber, who blew up the Constitutional Council building, was identified as Charef Larbi, from a poor Algiers suburb.
He had been arrested for "supporting terrorist groups" and imprisoned in 2004.
Upon release last year, he went into hiding with militants.
Insurgents have largely focused on symbols of the military-backed Government. The strike against the UN signalled a change in tactics.
Marie Heuze, chief spokeswoman for UN offices in Geneva, said 11 UN staffers died and five were missing.
It was the deadliest single attack against the UN since August 2003, when its Baghdad headquarters was hit by a truck laden with explosives, killing 22 including the top UN envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
It was blamed on a group that later affiliated with al-Qaida.
Seven survivors have been pulled from beneath concrete chunks. One woman's legs were amputated.
Algeria's insurgency broke out in the early 1990s, when the army cancelled the second round of the country's first multi-party elections to prevent likely victory by an Islamic fundamentalist party.
Islamist armed groups then turned to force to overthrow the Government. Up to 200,000 people were killed in the ensuing violence.
Until recently the insurgency had been dying out, as militant ranks dwindled after military crackdowns and amnesty offers.
However late last year, the main Algerian militant group changed its name to al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa and began waging larger-scale bombings.
- AP
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