Algeria suicide attack aimed at President kills 15
ALGERIA: A suicide bomber killed 15 people and injured 74 in an
assassination attempt in eastern Algeria against President Abdelaziz
Bouteflika, national television reported.
Bouteflkika appeared on television just after the bomb attack near a
mosque in the city of Batna to denounce the attackers as "criminals" and
vow to pursue his national reconciliation policy.
The North African nation is still recovering from a civil war in the
1990s that left more than 150,000 dead.
The suicide bomber struck only five months after attacks claimed by
Al-Qaeda's offshoot in North Africa which killed at least 43 people and
injured scores.
The attacker was part of a crowd awaiting a visit by the president in
the centre of Batna. Witnesses quoted by national television said the
bomb was hidden in a plastic bag. The attacker was discovered by the
crowd and set off the bomb before the president arrived, the report
said. Panic set into the crowd after the explosion.
Authorities did not immediately confirm whether the suicide bomber
was among the dead. No details were given immediately about the identity
of the attacker.
It was the closest that a militant attack has come to the president.
Bouteflika was immediately informed and immediately visited survivors
of the attack at the main hospital in Batna. He later went to the scene
of the explosion where supporters were waiting.
In an appearance on television, Bouteflika condemned the perpetrators
as "criminals."
"I will not for a single moment renounce the political project built
on national reconciliation and security for all Algerians," he said.
Under Bouteflika's policy, a presidential pardon is offered to
Islamist militants who surrender. About 2,000 Islamists have been freed
from prison and the authorities say about 300 militants have given
themselves up.
Just before the attack, Bouteflika had spoken to a group of veterans
from the war of independence against France's colonial forces.
He said that "national reconciliation was a strategic choice for the
Algerian people, an irreversible choice."
The president also stressed that such attacks by militants "have
absolutely nothing in common with the noble values of Islam."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the bombing as "barbaric
and senseless violence."
He assured Bouteflika of the "full solidarity of France and my
unswerving support in your fight against terrorism."
Algiers, Friday, AFP
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