Two bomb attacks in Algeria leave several people dead

Two bomb attacks on Wednesday in the eastern Algerian town of Bouira killed several people, a day after a massive attack on a police academy claimed 43 lives, residents told AFP by telephone.

The bombs went off in front of the Sophie hotel and the military headquarters in Bouira, which is around 120 kilometres (70 miles) southeast of the capital Algiers.

The blasts could be heard in a radius of several hundred metres (yards).

There was no immediate official announcement of the attacks or claim of responsibility.

The attacks came only a day after a suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into the entrance of a police school killing 43 people and injuring 45.

Many of the victims were university graduates waiting outside to take an entry exam in the hopes of joining the paramilitary police force.

Al-Qaeda has claimed previous attacks in Algeria and neighbouring Morocco but officials gave no indication who was behind Tuesday's strike in Issers, 60 kilometres (40 miles) east of Algiers.

It was the deadliest attack this year in Algeria and worse than the December 2007 attacks in Algiers against government and United Nations buildings, which killed 41 people and injured many others.

Those attacks were claimed by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), an Algeria-based group which last year declared allegiance to Al-Qaeda and renamed itself Al-Qaeda's Branch in the Islamic Maghreb.