2007 Algiers bombings: “Seven New Death Sentences Handed Out By Criminal Court”

An Algiers criminal court handed out seven new death sentences against a chieftain of the so-called “Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” (AQIM) and six of his henchmen for the 2007 bombings perpetrated in the capital Algiers including a deadly bomb attack against the premises of the Government Palace, APS News Agency announced Wednesday.

• APS indicated that the “Emir” of Algiers, Fateh Bouderbala, regarded as directly responsible for these ill-fated bombings and the six other defendants got the same death sentence as AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droudkel and eight co-defendants, but in absentia, on charges of premeditated murder, membership of a terrorist group and attacks using explosives at a previous court hearing.

• They were among 18 defendants, nine of whom were absent, put on trial for the three bomb attacks in Algiers carried out on April 11, 2007 that killed 22 people and wounded 222 others.

• The first terrorist attack saw a bomber drive an explosives-laden car into a guard post outside the government headquarters housing the prime minister’s office in central Algiers, killing 12 people and injuring 135.

• Minutes later, bombers driving two cars triggered deadly explosions in the eastern suburb of Bab Ezzouar against 2 police and gendarmerie stations, on the road to the international airport of Algiers.

• A fourth terrorist attack was fortunately thwarted when security officers defused a car bomb, according to court documents in the trial that opened on March 14, 2011.