43 die in Algeria suicide bombing

There was carnage in Algeria yesterday when at least 43 people were killed after a suicide bomber rammed his car into a queue of applicants waiting outside a police academy to register. A further 45 were injured, many seriously.

The attack took place in the Issers district of the Boumerdes region, 35 miles to the east of the country's capital, Algiers. No group has claimed responsibility for the atrocity, but al-Qaeda has been gaining ground in the Maghreb state.

It was the deadliest attack in recent years against the Algerian state, which has suffered years of violence since the army took power in 1992 in a bid to head off a militant Islamist party winning elections.

Messages of support from the French prime minister and Italy's president, Silvio Berlusconi, have already arrived, and the EU, conscious of the role Algeria plays as a bulwark against north African terror groups, condemned the bombing.

In recent months violent attacks have been on the upswing in the country, with an ambush at the weekend killing 12 police officers and soldiers, while last December more than 40 people, including 17 UN workers, were killed in a double suice-bombing in Algiers.