Two policemen killed in Algeria bomb blast

ALGIERS – A bomb exploded in the centre of an Algerian town as a police patrol passed early Tuesday, killing two policemen and wounding three civilians, witnesses and the hospital said.

• The bomb had been placed on the side of a road in the commercial centre of the town of Bordj Menaiel, 70 kilometres (45 miles) east of the capital Algiers, witnesses told AFP.

• They said policemen were killed and people were badly hurt and the blast also caused serious damage.

• The hospital at Bordj Menaiel, a town of about 10,000 people, said that two policemen were killed and three civilians were wounded.

• The Bordj Menaiel region is often targeted by Islamic extremist groups.

• Attacks on Algeria’s security forces are often blamed on Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb, the north African wing of Osama bin Laden’s movement, which has stepped up its activities in the region in recent years.