ALGIERS (AFP) — Two car bomb attacks in eastern Algeria killed at least 11 people, state radio reported Wednesday with the country still in shock from a suicide bomber who killed 43 people a day earlier.
At least 31 people were wounded in the latest attacks in the town of Bouira, one on a passenger bus and another near a military headquarters, Algerian radio said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but an Al-Qaeda group has staged several attacks in Algeria over the past year and has been involved in clashes with government forces in the oil and gas-rich state.
Bouira is part of a so-called "zone of death" it forms with Algiers, Tizi Ouzou and Boumerdes where attacks have been rife.
One bomb targetted a bus parked near the Sophie hotel, in the city centre. The second bomb went off near the military headquarters in Bouira, which is 120 kilometres (70 miles) southeast of Algiers.
The early morning blast blew out windows in the hotel and other nearby buildings. A security cordon was immediately thrown around the centre of Bouira, witnesses said.
The attacks came only a day after a suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into the entrance of a police school killing 43 people and injuring 45 in Issers, also east of Algiers.
Most of the victims were university graduates waiting outside to take an entry exam in the hopes of joining the paramilitary police force.
On Sunday, armed Islamists ambushed a security force convoy at Skikda, 500 kilometers (300 miles) east of Algiers, killing eight police, three soldiers and a civilian, media reports said.
The Issers attack was the deadliest this year in Algeria and worse than the December 2007 attacks in Algiers against government and United Nations buildings, which killed 41 people and injured many others.
Those attacks were claimed by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), an Algeria-based group which last year declared allegiance to Al-Qaeda and renamed itself Al-Qaeda's Branch in the Islamic Maghreb.
The government has reaffirmed its determination to "combat" terrorism and pursue its policy of national reconciliation, which has seen the pardoning of several Islamists.
Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said after a visit to Issers on Tuesday that "the terrorists should know that the only way for them is to give themselves up."
In a statement released late Tuesday, the government said: "As the president of the republic has said many times, the state will unflinchingly fight terrorism, with a strong determination until its total elimination in our country."
It added: "At the same time, Algeria will not deviate from the path of national reconciliation chosen by the nation and which has already given major progress in the consolidation of security across the national territory."
The wave of Islamist attacks has caused international concern, because of the Al-Qaeda involvement and Algeria's importance as a supplier of natural gas.
China on Wednesday joined the international anger over the devastating suicide attack at the police academy.
"The Chinese government condemns this terrorist action, and we express deep condolences to the deceased," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters. "We firmly oppose terrorism in all forms, and we support the Algerian government's efforts in combating terrorism and safeguarding national stability."
The European Union, United States, Russia and France have all expressed concern at the events.
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