Twin car bombs kill 47 in Algiers

At least forty-seven people were killed when two car bombs exploded in upscale districts of Algiers on Tuesday, a security source said, in the bloodiest attack since the 1990s on the capital of the OPEC member state.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but commentators said it appeared the work of al Qaeda`s north Africa wing, which claimed a similar bombing in downtown Algiers in April and other blasts east of the capital over the summer that have worried foreign investors.

One of Tuesday`s blasts struck near the Constitutional Court building in Ben Aknoun district and the other close to the U.N. offices and a police station in Hydra, both areas where several Western companies have their offices, a source was quoted by Reuters as saying.

In Ben Aknoun people ran through the streets crying in panic and the wail of police sirens filled the air.

A body lay on the road covered with a white blanket, two buses were burning, debris from damaged cars was strewn across pavements while police struggled to hold back onlookers.