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Algerians protest against terrorism after suicide attacks
ALGIERS (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Algerians protested against terrorism Sunday after two suicide bomb attacks in recent days claimed by an Al-Qaeda offshoot killed at least 52 people.
Demonstrations were held in Algeria’s major cities, including the capital Algiers, where participants gathered in a sports arena, displaying banners saying “no to violence and crime.”
Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem was among politicians attending the rally, where speakers denounced suicide attacks as “contrary to the values of Islam.”
Messages of support poured in from around the world, led by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who said he was “deeply shocked and saddened by the escalation of terrorist violence in Algeria.”
The latest attack occurred Saturday when a blast ripped through a naval barracks in the port town of Dellys, 70 kilometres (45 miles) east of Algiers.
Most of those killed were members of the coastguard, but the interior ministry said three civilians also died and many of the 47 wounded were also civilians.
On Thursday, 22 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when a man exploded a device in a crowd waiting to meet President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the eastern city of Batna.
It was an apparent assassination attempt against the president but the attacker was reportedly discovered by the crowd and set off the bomb before Bouteflika arrived.
Political parties, unions and civil society groups called for Sunday’s protests with the theme: “No to terrorism. Stop instability. Don’t touch my Algeria.”
Islamic militants from Al-Qaeda’s self-styled offshoot in north Africa have claimed credit for other recent bombings.
The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and renamed itself the Al-Qaeda Movement in the Maghreb, sparking Western fears of Islamist militants gaining a toehold in north Africa from which to launch attacks in Europe and beyond.
The United States denounced the attacks and called them a reminder of the threat posed by global extremism.
“We deplore the vicious attacks in Algeria. The attacks are another reminder of the terrorist threat faced by freedom-loving people around the world,” White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
The European Union issued a statement saying “terrorism in all its forms constitutes one of the most serious threats to peace in the world.” The bloc reiterated its “support for Algerian efforts to overcome the great sufferings of recent years and achieve national reconciliation.”
The Arab League also issued a strong condemnation of the attacks, with deputy chief of political affairs Ahmed Ben Helli saying “the Algerian people, who have defeated colonisation and terrorism in the past, are capable of conquering these small factions which kill innocent people.”
Messages of condolence and condemnations of the attacks also came from France, Iran, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Morocco and Spain.
Bouteflika went on television after Thursday’s attacks to denounce the “criminals” responsible but vowed to pursue his national reconciliation policy.
That initiative aims to integrate Islamists who renounce violence that rocked the country after the army intervened in 1992 to cancel elections an Islamic fundamentalist party was poised to win.
About 2,000 militants have been freed from prison and the authorities say about 300 have given themselves up, earning a presidential pardon.
But in April, car bomb attacks on the government headquarters and a police station in Algiers killed 33 people and injured more than 220.
Three months later, 10 soldiers were killed and 35 people wounded when a suicide bomber rammed a truck full of explosives into barracks at Lakhdaria, 100 kilometres east of Algiers.
In a separate incident, Algerian security services said they had arrested two suspected Islamist militants “as they were preparing an attack” in the town of Medea, 80 kilometres south of Algiers.
