Many dead in Algeria suicide blast

 

The bombing came on the same day as the opening of the Africa Games, one of the continent’s biggest sporting events, which is taking place in Algiers and also in Blida and Boumerdes, two towns in Kabylie.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.

However, an al-Qaeda-aligned armed group previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has claimed responsibility for similar attacks in recent months, including a triple suicide bombing in Algiers that killed 33 people on April 11.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Algerian president, asked the army in early July to step up attacks on Islamist fighters, saying they were “enemies of the people”.