Religion of Peace Strikes in Algeria
Charles Johnson
Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 8:30 am PST • Views: 333
A car bomb attack on United Nations buildings in Algiers has killed at least 45 people.
ALGIERS, Algeria - Car bombs exploded minutes apart Tuesday in central Algiers, heavily damaging U.N. buildings and ripping the facade off the wing of a government office. Officials said 45 people were killed, and that 12 U.N. employees were missing.
Suspicions quickly focused on the North African wing of al-Qaida. The date — the 11th — could point to an Islamic terror link. Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for attacks on April 11 that hit the prime minister’s office and a police station, killing 33 people.“We are looking through the rubble for people,” said Jean Fabre of the U.N. Development program in Geneva, after speaking with Marc Destanne De Bernis, the agency’s top official in the Algerian capital.
One employee of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees was killed and 12 employees from various U.N. agencies were missing, said Marie Heuze, spokeswoman for the world body in Geneva.
If all the missing are found to be dead, it would be the deadliest assault on the U.N. since the Aug. 19, 2003, truck bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad that killed 22 people, including top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Frank says: