Suicide Attack at Algerian Police Academy

Via Yahoo News! (AP) -

ALGIERS, Algeria - A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-rigged car into a police academy as recruits lined up to register for classes, killing at least 43 people. It was the deadliest attack in recent years in the North African country.

The Interior Ministry said 42 civilians and a police officer were killed in the attack early Tuesday in the town of Les Issers, some 35 miles east of the capital, Algiers, the state-run APS news agency said.

The blast ripped off parts of the policy academy's roof, and damaged its facade. Photos transmitted by APS showed bodies wrapped in yellow plastic bags or blankets lying amid the rubble. Nearby houses and passing cars were also damaged.

Witnesses said all roads within two miles of Les Issers were blocked and cell phone networks were scrambled as police closed off the area.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but the country's al-Qaida affiliate has said it was behind a series of bombings in the past two years.

A security official at the school told The Associated Press that the attack occurred as young recruits waited to sign up for classes.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media, said the local academy was vulnerable because of the crowd of applicants at its gate.

Most of the civilians killed were police recruits, but witnesses said the blast also killed several people in nearby cars.

Tuesday's attack was one of the largest — if not the largest — in years.

In December, a double suicide bombing in Algiers killed 41 people, including 17 U.N. workers. In April 2007, coordinated suicide strikes against the main government offices in central Algiers and a police station killed 33.

Those attacks, like most of those recently, were claimed by Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, formerly known as the GSPC. The group grew out of an insurgency in the 1990s, which began when the army called off the second round of legislative elections that an Islamist party was slated to win. Years of ensuing violence left as many as 200,000 dead.

Violence diminished in Algeria in the early part of this decade, but attacks increased again after the GSPC affirmed allegiance to al-Qaida in 2006.

Most attacks have targeted the Algerian national security services and military, while a few have struck foreigners.