ALGIERS, Sept 7 (AFP): Nineteen people were killed and 119 injured in Algeria Thursday in a suicide bombing apparently aimed at President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algerian television reported. Local security sources earlier gave a toll of 12 dead and 23 injured.
The bomber was part of a crowd awaiting a visit by the head of state in the eastern city of Batna.
Witnesses said he was discovered by members of the crowd and let off the explosives he was carrying before the president arrived.
It was the first attack to be carried out during a presidential visit in Algeria. Bouteflika was immediately informed and visited the victims in hospital.
The president later appeared on television to condemn the perpetrators as "criminals" and insist that his national reconciliation programme, which provides an amnesty for Islamic extremists who renounce violence, would continue.
"I will not for a single moment renounce the political project built on national reconciliation and security for all Algerians," he said.
Algerian authorities have recently hardened their rhetoric against armed Islamists who refuse to join the programme.
"They should give themselves up or perish," Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said recently.
Thursday's attack comes five months after two car bombings killed 33 people and injured more than 220 in Algiers.
Algeria suicide attack kills 19
FE Team | Published: September 08, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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