13 killed in Algeria train station bombings

Two successive bombs rocked a train station in Algeria today, killing 13 people, mostly firefighters and soldiers responding to the first bomb, a security official said.

The first bomb killed a French engineer at work on a renovation project at the station in Beni Amrane, just over 60 miles east of the capital, the security official said. The Frenchman’s Algerian driver was also killed.

The French engineer, working on a project to boost the number of train rails at the station, was targeted as he prepared to leave the work site by car, said the official.

The second bomb exploded about five minutes later, as security officials and rescue workers arrived on the scene. Eight soldiers and three firefighters were killed in that explosion, the official said. Several others were wounded, though the exact number was unclear.

Both devices appeared to be remote-controlled. There was no immediate claim of responsibility in the bombings, the third attack in days in Algeria.

The country’s al-Qaida affiliate, al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, is known to be active in the area.

Most of the country’s bombings have been claimed by al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, formerly known as the GSPC. The group grew out of an insurgency that raged in the country in the 1990s. The violence, which has left as many as 200,000 dead, was prompted by the army’s cancellation of legislative elections in 1992 that an Islamist party was poised to win.

Many attacks in Algeria have targeted the national security services and military, while others have struck foreigners.

The latest attack was apparently crafted to hit both of those targets. In December, a double suicide bombing in Algiers killed 41 people, including 17 UN workers. In April 2007, coordinated suicide strikes against the main government offices in central Algiers and a police station killed 33.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a message of condolences to his Algerian counterpart, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, which confirmed that a French citizen was targeted in today’s attack. France’s Foreign Ministry said it was in contact with Algerian authorities about the attack, but provided no other details.

Algeria’s official news agency reported that the two bombs killed two and wounded one. The agency, APS, is often slower to react to news of deadly bombings than independent media are.

The North African nation’s Islamic militants have mounted several attacks over the past week. On Wednesday, a suicide attack on a military barracks and a second bombing at a cafe shook a beach neighborhood outside the Algerian capital, wounding six people. A day later, a roadside bomb killed six soldiers in the city of Boumerdes.

The attacks of the past week have come as Algeria’s president prepares to inaugurate an international trade fair tomorrow outside Algiers, a high-profile event that will draw members of foreign governments.

Though Algeria has battled an Islamic insurgency for years, the number of attacks has risen dramatically since the country’s main militant group reaffirmed allegiance to al-Qaida in 2006.