December 11, 2007
U.N. Offices Targeted In Algeria Bombings
Two car bombs exploded in Algiers this morning, killing at least 47 people. One of the bombs exploded in a street that contains offices for both the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the U.N. Development Program.
CNN reports that 10 U.N. workers were killed in the blast. A spokesman for the refugee agency also said the building itself sustained "extensive damage." The other explosion occurred outside a court building in a nearby neighborhood 10 minutes before the bomb near the U.N. offices.
Algerian Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said today that a suicide bomber detonated the blast in front of the U.N. office.
No individual or group has come forward to claim responsibility for the attacks in the Algerian capital. In April, another bomb in Algiers killed more than 30 people; the northern African branch of al-Qaida claimed responsibility for that attack.
