Reuters AlertNet Lite - Bomb kills two Algerian rebels planning attack

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Bomb kills two Algerian rebels planning attack

14 Mar 2007 20:04:17 GMT
Source: Reuters

ALGIERS, March 14 (Reuters) - Two members of an Algerian Islamist militant group were killed when a roadside bomb they were planting outside the capital Algiers exploded prematurely, the official APS news agency said on Wednesday.

Several other rebels were wounded when the home-made bomb went off at a the side of a road intersection on Tuesday in Boumerdes province, some 50 km (31 miles) from Algiers, APS said citing security sources.

The rebels planned to bury the two roadside bombs but the first one went off as they were about to move on to plant the second one, it added.

The two bombs were to be detonated from a distance by mobile phone, said the agency, adding that both dead men were aged 24.

An unspecified number of wounded militants were taken away by other militants on board a tractor they hijacked from a farmer in the area, witnesses said.

Seven deadly bomb attacks took place almost simultaneously in Boumerdes and the neighbouring province of Tizi Ouzou on Feb. 13, killing six people.

The rebels are believed to be members al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which had claimed responsibility for the Feb.13 bombings.

The U.S. and British governments warned their nationals in the North African country this week that militants may be planning to attack commercial aircraft carrying Western workers in Algeria.

Violence in Algeria broke out in 1992 after the then military-backed authorities, fearing an Iran-style revolution, scrapped a parliamentary election that an Islamist political party, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), was set to win.

Up to 200,000 people were killed in the ensuing bloodshed. The violence has subsided sharply in recent years.

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Last updated:Wed Mar 14 20:05:49 2007