TWO car bombs killed at least three people in a garrison town south of Algiers yesterday, residents said, hours after two other explosions hit the capital in a relentless guerrilla Ramadan bombing campaign.
The authorities, conceding they cannot stop the car bomb onslaught, appealed for public help to halt the guerrillas. Newspapers said more than 150 people have died in violence since January 10th, the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Suspected Muslim guerrillas also killed five other civilians, including a 12 year old boy and his father, in two additional attacks in villages near Algiers this week, the El Watan daily newspaper said.
While the Interior Minister, Mr Mustpaha Benmansour, called on Algerians to help, the main secular opposition, the Socialist Forces' Front, condemned the government's failure to catch the bombers.
The two car bombs yesterday killed at least three people and wounded scores in the centre of Blida, 50 km south of Algiers, residents said. The first bomb exploded around 10 a.m local time in the Souk al Ahad market in central Blida, killing at least two and wounding many others. The second went off in the main street - killing one person and wounding others.
Blida, site of the army headquarters, is known as a Muslim guerrilla stronghold and a "corridor" for rebels to reach their hideouts in surrounding mountains.
"The state is carrying its duty to end the terrorism. The population has also an active role to play and the people shall increase vigilance," Mr Benmansour was quoted by El Watan as saying.
The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) had warned it would increase attacks during Ramadan and Algiers residents reported that leaflets posted in the Casbah said - there would be 50 bombs during the month.
Security forces, in a statement on the official Algerian news agency APS, put the death toll at seven and 54 wounded in the Algiers bombings on Tuesday. El Watan said 12 people died.
No one has claimed responsibility but analysts believe the bombs are meant to discredit President Liamine Zeroual's claim that the government has crushed the guerillas.