Freed Terrorists Carried Out Algerian Bombings

Sun, Dec 16, 2007 at 1:11:01 pm PST

Two of the Islamic terrorists who attacked UN buildings in Algiers last week, killing at least 37 people, were actually freed from prison in an Algerian amnesty program.

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Two convicted terrorists who had been freed in an amnesty carried out the suicide bombings at U.N. and government buildings that killed 37 people, an Algerian security official has said.

Rescuers in the shaken city Thursday were still extracting the living and the dead from the crumpled remains of U.N. offices in Algiers that were bombed by al-Qaeda’s self-styled North African affiliate.

Victims caught in Tuesday’s twin truck bombings, which happened 10 minutes apart, included U.N. staff from around the world, police officers and law students.

One of the bombers was a 64-year-old man in the advanced stages of cancer, while the other was a 32-year-old from a poor suburb that has produced many Islamic militants, the security official said Thursday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The government has offered amnesties to try to end a 15-year Islamic insurgency, resulting in thousands of militants turning themselves in, but sparking fierce criticism from the families of victims.