Algeria bomb attack 'was meant for president'

A bomb attack killed 20 people in an eastern Algeria town, but missed its possible target – visiting President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Authorities said today the main suspect was killed as he tried to escape.

The bomb exploded in the middle of a crowd awaiting Bouteflika’s arrival in Batna yesterday, about 280 miles east of Algiers – the last stop on the president’s three-day tour of the region.

The explosion occurred just 45 minutes before Bouteflika’s plane landed. At least 20 people were killed, medical officials said today, and more than 100 were wounded, including 24 with serious injuries.

National radio put the death toll slightly higher at 22.

Local police said the main suspect had carried the bomb in a bag into the crowd gathered in front of the town’s Al-Atik mosque.

The man dropped the bag before it exploded, fled and was killed by security services, Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said.

On national radio, Zerhouni warned the country’s terrorists that they had “one choice: turn themselves in, or die.”

Hundreds of people demonstrated in Batna today to denounce the attack and support the government’s peace efforts.