Suspected Al Qaeda Bomb Kills 43 in Algeria

A suicide bomb exploded in an Algerian police school Tuesday, killing 43 people in Issers, a town 60km East of Algiers. According to the Algerian Interior ministry, 42 civilians and one police officer had been killed, while 45 others were wounded. The attack, which is the deadliest since a bomb attack on government and UN buildings claimed 41 lives in Algiers last December, heightens speculation of a systematic Al-Qaeda operation in North Africa. The (GSPC), a local militant group that claims to be Al-Qaeda's Maghreb branch, and which claimed responsibility for the December 2007 attacks, is suspected to be behind Tuesday’s bombing. The GSPC jailed former leader, Hassan Hattab, has meanwhile urged the group to renounce its militancy. [PE]