Dozens Killed In Algeria Bombing

By: Paul Lim
College Press Staff Writer

A North Africa terrorist group based in Northern Africa is taking responsibility for two bombs that went off in Algiers, Algeria with a potential of killing over 60 people as of Tuesday evening.  Two car bombs exploded near a United Nations office and an Algerian Government bureau.

Around 9:30 a.m., the first bomb exploded near the Algerian Constitutional Council.  Ten minutes later, the second bomb went off near the United Nations building.  Portions of the building collapse upon impact.  The first bomb destroyed the façade of the first building and killed the passengers of a passing bus.

The Islamic militant group has killed more than 100 people this year throughout Algeria, this incident alone is considered the worst bombing in Algeria in more than a decade.

Bloomberg reports, according to the Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE), the group responsible for the attack issued a statement on the internet and identified the bombers as Ibrahim Abu Uthman and Abdul Rahman Abu Abdul Nasser Al-Aassemi.  Algeria has been in involved in an internal political struggle for years since the early 1990s when the military seized elections and banned the Islamic Salvation Front political group.

President George W. Bush called these events “cowardly attacks.”  He said, “The United States stands with the people of Algeria, as well as the United Nations, as they deal with this senseless violence.”  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said, “These cowardly attacks cannot be justified under any circumstance.”