Algeria

Two dead in attack on barracks

Article published on the 2009-03-07 Latest update 2009-03-07 14:16 TU

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
(Photo: AFP)

Two people were killed and five wounded in an attack on a barracks near the eastern Algerian city of Tizi Ouzou on Saturday, according to security officials. Security officials have given no details of the attack but press reports say that a bomb exploded at the entrance to the barracks.

The two dead have been identified as a security guard and an elderly passer-by.

The blast targeted commuity guards, members of a force set up in the early 1990s, when the government was locked in a bloody conflict with armed Islamist groups, which official figures say cost 150,000 lives.

The guards are usually deployed in small towns and often work with paramilitary forces.

On 22 February armed Islamists killed nine security guards in an attack on their local headquarters near Jijel, also in the east of the country.

A week later Interior Minister Yazid Erhouni said that security forces had killed about 120 insurgents since 1 September last year and that some of the dead were leading members of the armed groups.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is to seek a third mandate in a presidential election on 9 April.