Qaeda claims Algeria police bombing: SITE
DUBAI (AFP) — An Al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility on Thursday for a suicide bombing against a police station in Algeria that reportedly left four people dead, according to the SITE Institute that monitors Islamist websites.
In Wednesday's attack that also left at least 12 people wounded, a suicide car bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a police station in Naciria, east of the Algerian capital, according to state radio.
SITE said that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb issued a statement to "jihadist forums" claiming the attack and showing a picture of the bomber, identified as Abdullah al-Shaayani.
The same branch had also claimed responsibility for twin suicide car bomb attacks in the capital Algiers on December 11, in which 41 people were killed, including 17 UN staff, and dozens injured.
In Thursday's statement the group said the bomber drove a truck loaded with 500 kilos (1,100 pounds) of explosives into the "den of infidelity," claiming it destroyed the building and killed and injured dozens of police, SITE said.
It accused the Algerian police of being established to "torture Muslim youths" and to wage war on the mujahedeen (Islamic warriors) on behalf of "their masters" in Paris and Washington.
Algeria was hit by a series of bombings in the capital and other major cities last year that killed about 100 people. Al-Qaeda have claimed responsibility for all of them.
