11-12-2007
AI Index: MDE 28/022/2007
 

Algeria: Amnesty International condemns new bomb outrages in Algiers

Amnesty International utterly condemns the bomb attacks perpetrated in Algiers this morning which killed at least 52 people, including civilians, and injured many others.
The attacks appear to have been indiscriminate or to have deliberately targeted civilians and civilian objects.
 

Such attacks are absolutely prohibited under international law and show a infoplete disregard for the most fundamental human right, the right to life.
 

The first bomb is reported to have exploded in front of the Constitutional Court in the Ben Aknoun area and, among other destruction, to have struck a school bus carrying students. A second bomb was then detonated in the Hydra district, close to the offices of the United Nations High infomissioner for Refugees, which is reported to have been partially destroyed.
 

As yet, it is unclear who perpetrated these attacks but earlier bombings, on 11 April in
Algiers and in September in Batna and Dellys, which killed at least 87 people, including civilians, were reportedly carried out by the main Islamist armed group currently active in Algeria, the Salafist Group for Preaching and infobat. In January this year, the group reportedly changed its name to the al-Qa’ida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb.
 

Public Document
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