Twin car bombings reportedly kill 11 in Algeria

ALGIERS, Algeria - Twin car bombings at a hotel and military headquarters killed 11 people and wounded 31 others on Wednesday, according to local reports.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings at Bouira, 90 miles east of Algiers, but they follow a spate of attacks by al-Qaida's north African wing

Abdellah Debbache, the Bouira correspondent of Algeria's Liberte newspaper, said the first blast ripped off most of the front of the local military headquarters at about 6 a.m.

The second bomb exploded a minute later, targeting the nearby Hotel Sofi, the largest in the town. Algerian press agency APS said reported the blast occurred as a passenger bus drove past.

Quoting the Interior Ministry, APS said 31 people including four military personnel were wounded. All the dead were civilians.

A day earlier, a suicide bombing in a neighboring region killed 43 people.

Tuesday's bombing was one of the bloodiest incidents in years in the OPEC member state. The target was a police training school at Issers, 34 miles east of the capital.

Conflict began in Algeria in 1992 when a military-backed government scrapped elections a radical Islamic party was poised to win. About 150,000 people have died in the ensuing violence.

The bloodshed has eased in recent years but a hard core of several hundred rebels fight on as part of al-Qaida's affiliate, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.

It has claimed several attacks including the twin suicide bombings of U.N. offices and a court building in Algiers in December 2007 which killed 41 people.

A total of 57 people were killed in bombings within three days in September last year.

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