One killed, 4 wounded in bombing at military roadblock in Algeria

Published Saturday, February 16, 2008

By Agencies

A remote-controlled bomb exploded on Saturday at a military roadblock in northeastern Algeria, killing one soldier and wounding four others, security officials said.

The bombing hit near the town of Tadmait, 80 kilometres east of the capital Algiers, prompting a shootout, security officials told local reporters at the scene.

One soldier died from wounds suffered in the blast, while three soldiers and one civilian were wounded, they said.

A leading opposition politician, Karim Tabbou, witnessed the attack, and his car was hit by stray bullets, his Front for Socialist Forces party said in a statement. The party urged an investigation into the bombing, warning the Kabylie region where it occurred risked plunging into new instability.

The attack comes amid a wave of sweep-up operations in the region by Algerian security forces seeking to weed out Islamic militants who have mounted increasing attacks over the past year.

Most have been claimed by Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa, formerly known as the GSPC. The group grew out of an insurgency that raged in the country in the 1990s.

The violence, which left as many as 200,000 dead, was prompted by the army's cancellation of legislative elections that an Islamist party was poised to win. (AP)

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