Al Qaeda group claims Algeria blasts

Al Qaeda’s North Africa affiliate claimed responsibility for two suicide attacks that killed at least 57 people in Algeria in the last two days, Al Jazeera television said Saturday.

Al Qaeda in the Maghreb, an Islamist group that has pledged loyalty to Osama bin Laden, said in an Internet statement that it was behind Saturday’s suicide truck bombing at a coast guard barracks east of Algiers and an attack Thursday in the town of Batna, Al Jazeera reported.

Witnesses said the truck bomb destroyed the coast guard barracks in the port of Dellys, 60 miles east of Algiers. Hospital officials said the blast killed at least 37 people. The bombing apparently was timed to kill as many officers as possible, striking when they were grouped together to raise the flag.

It was the deadliest attack in Algeria since April, when triple suicide bombings against the prime minister’s office and a police station killed 33.

The bombing Thursday, which killed at least 20 people, was seen by the government as a bid to derail efforts to end 15 years of political violence.

The victims in Batna, a town 270 miles southeast of Algiers, were in a crowd waiting to see visiting President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has worked during his eight years in office to end insurgent violence.

Algerians said it was the first time a suicide bomber in their country had detonated explosives strapped to his body, rather than using a vehicle.

There was widespread speculation that Bouteflika was the intended target, but officials did not comment on that. Bouteflika’s government is a U.S. ally in anti-terrorism efforts.

Authorities called on Algerians to stage rallies for peace today throughout the country.

In New York, Jean-Maurice Ripert, France’s ambassador to the United Nations and president of the Security Council, condemned the bombings as “heinous” terrorist attacks.