An al-Qaida-linked group said it carried out the Algerian truck bombings that killed at least 26 people in carefully timed blasts that drew swift international condemnation.

A United Nations office was the target of one of two car bombs that killed at least 45 people in Algiers today.

Al-Qaida’s North African affiliate claimed responsibility today for a car bombing in Algeria that killed 30 coastguard officers and another recent blast that ripped through a crowd waiting for the president.

A booby-trapped car exploded at a barracks housing coast guard officials in Algeria today, killing at least 17 people and injuring about 30, the country’s official news agency reported, citing hospital authorities.

Security officers are out in force for the Algerian election after a recent surge in violence.

The death toll from yesterday’s al-Qaida-claimed suicide bombings in Algeria today rose to 33, the government said.

Extremists in Algeria may be plotting to attack a commercial airliner carrying Western workers, the US Embassy in the north African country has said.

A fast-thinking pilot with passengers in cahoots fooled a hijacker by braking hard upon landing, then accelerating to knock the man down.

An apparently co-ordinated wave of bombings largely targeting police killed six people and injured nearly 30 others in Algeria today, according to the official news agency, police and hospital staff.

More than two dozen Islamic extremists involved in a deadly fire fight with police this month had blueprints of foreign embassies and documents naming foreign envoys, Tunisia’s official news agency quoted the interior minister as saying today.

Al-Qaida number two Ayman al-Zawahiri called for attacks against France in a video and designated an Algerian insurgency movement as the terrorist organisation’s armed wing in the European country, a terror expert said today.

Italian authorities have arrested three Algerians suspected of links to a militant group that has allied itself with Osama bin Laden, it was reported today.

Police in France and Italy detained a total of 18 people today, targeting a group suspected of planning terror attacks in Europe.

ONE of North Africa’s most-wanted terror leaders, who allied his group with Osama bin Laden, has been killed, the Algerian military said yesterday.

An Algerian terror leader who allied himself with Osama bin Laden has been killed, it was reported today.

A group linked to al-Qaida was behind the Sahara Desert kidnapping of 17 European tourists who were free today after more than two months in custody, the Algerian army said.

Algerian security forces have killed 11 suspected members of an Islamic insurgency group in sweeps east of the capital.