Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

Three killed in a suicide bombing in Algeria
07 Mar 2009 10:59:54 GMT
Source: Reuters
ALGIERS, March 7 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed himself and two other people at the gate of a government security post in eastern Algeria on Saturday, a local security official said.

The bomber tried to storm the post in the town of Tadmait, about 70 km (49 miles) east of Algiers, but a guard spotted him and shot him, the official and witnesses told Reuters.

"The bomber blew himself as the guard aimed his gun at him. He was killed, and he killed the guard and a woman who happened to be passing by," the official said.

Islamic rebels have stepped up attacks in OPEC-member Algeria since last month before presidential elections scheduled for April 9. It follows a pattern of violence before similar political events with the aim of embarrassing the authorities.

The death toll from political violence in Algeria more than doubled to 33 in February after rebels stepped up attacks.

Algeria was plunged into violence in 1992 after the then military-backed government scrapped a parliamentary election which a radical Islamist party was poised to win.

But the insurgency, in which more 150,000 people were killed, has largely died out since the government offered successive amnesties to encourage rebels to disarm. (Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Editing by Angus MacSwan)


AlertNet news is provided by

Email this article       Send comments

Emergencies

•  Tropical storm Three

MORE >>

Latest news

•  Three killed in a suicide bombing in Algeria

•  TIMELINE-Cricket teams and South Asia militant attacks

•  TIMELINE-Algeria political violence death toll up in Feb

•  Nigeria militants say will sabotage Sahara gas pipe

•  Mali customs seize weapons bound for Qaeda - paper

MORE >>
AlertNet news is provided by

Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   


Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Sat Mar 7 11:01:40 2009