World

Thirteen killed in Algerian railway station bombing

by Dave Keating | June 9, 2008 at 01:06 am

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UPDATE 1230 EST:
Thirteen are now confirmed dead in a double bombing near Algiers.

ALGIERS
(AFP) — A double bomb strike near Algiers that killed 13 people sparked
fears Monday of a wave of Al-Qaeda inspired attacks in what a French
minister said had become a "dangerous" country.

The employer of a French engineer killed in the attack withdrew its other expatriate staff from Algeria.

French
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner appealed for foreign firms to stay in
Algeria even though he acknowledged in a radio interview that it has
become a "dangerous country".

A car carrying the engineer hit a
remote controlled roadside bomb as it left the railway tunnel where he
was working in Lakhdaria, east of the capital on Sunday afternoon. His
driver was also killed.

Three paramedics and eight members of the
security forces were killed in a second blast 30 minutes later as they
helped the victims at the scene.

The attack has not been claimed
but previous similar strikes have been claimed by Al-Qaeda's offshoot
in North Africa. There have now been five bomb attacks in five days
around Algiers and the Kabylie region which is an Islamist stronghold.

According
to press reports, the Algerian courts have handed down more than 200
death sentences against wanted Islamic extremists on the run since the
beginning of the year. Algeria has suspended executions since 1993.

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For the first time since the 1990's a French citizen has been killed in political violence in Algeria, in a suicide bombing. The attack comes shortly after Denmark closed its embassy in the country following the attack onn its Pakistan embassy, motivated by publication of cartoons of the prophet Mohamed in Denmark.

Two bombs exploded yesterday at a railway station east of Algiers, killing 12 people including a French engineer, diplomats and security sources said.

It was the first time since the 1990s that a French citizen has been killed in political violence in Algeria, where al-Qaeda-aligned rebels have carried out a string of deadly bombings in the past two years. Yesterday's attack was the third deadly strike in five days. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.