- Title: ALGERIA: Algerians in shock day after twin car bombs kill at least 26 in capital
- Date: 12th December 2007
- Summary: MAN STANDING, READING NEWSPAPER
- Embargoed: 27th December 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Algeria
- Country: Algeria
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVADIMQLIQ28VJ4V89I3PJ1ZGI1D
- Story Text: Algerians woke up on Wednesday (December 12) to face the grim reality of the aftermath of twin car bombs in the capital Algiers on Tuesday (December 11) that killed at least 26 people, in one of the bloodiest attacks since civil strife in the 1990s.
Eleven U.N. employees are believed to have been among those killed when the bombs, detonated by suspected al Qaeda militants, hit U.N. and other buildings. More U.N. staff were still unaccounted for, a U.N. spokeswoman said.
Seven people were pulled alive from the wreckage overnight.
Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci told Europe 1 television the official death toll was 30, while a Health Ministry source on Tuesday said 67 people were killed.
Most Algerian newspapers carried images of damaged buildings and the wounded on their front pages.
Many residents were angry after the attacks.
"The people who did that are inhuman," said Saida, as she was buying a newspaper.
However, other residents were also fearful and wary.
"The people who did that are not Muslim at all. You have to be afraid. You have to be prudent. There is no trust anymore," said newspaper kiosk vendor Karim.
"Of course we are afraid. There is no safety anywhere. There is no trust," said Slimane, another Algiers resident.
Algerian radio said the dead included three Asian nationals, a Dane and a Senegalese.
The second al Qaeda attack on the Mediterranean capital in eight months plunged many residents into nervous gloom, an all too familiar mood in a city of 3 million buffeted by political bloodshed during an undeclared civil war in the 1990s.
Up to 200,000 people were killed, but the violence subsided for several years before spiking up again in late 2006.
Al Qaeda's North African wing said on an Internet site that two of its suicide bombers carried out the attacks and that the United Nations and Algerian government were the targets. No independent verification of the statement was available.
"We bring good tidings to the nation of Islam that a group of its children carried out two martyrdom operations ... to inflict harm on the crusaders and their agent, the slaves of America and France," its statement said.
Al Qaeda's North African wing, which wants all foreigners to leave Algeria, claimed responsibility for the April blast and other blasts east of the capital this year that have worried foreign investors. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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