(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-09-09 09:39

DELLYS - A suicide truck bomb destroyed a coastguards barracks in Algeria on Saturday, killing 30 people, the authorities said, in the second such attack in the north African OPEC member country in as many days.

Algerian soldiers stand next to the rubble of the coastguard barracks in Dellys September 8, 2007. A suicide truck bomber destroyed the coastguards barracks in Algeria on Saturday, killing 30 people in the second such attack in the OPEC member country in as many days.[Reuters]

The blast in the port of Dellys 100 km (62 miles) east of Algiers happened less than 48 hours after a suicide bombing in Batna town killed 20 people in an attack seen by the government as a bid to wreck efforts to end 15 years of political violence.

"I heard a big blast at about 8 this morning and I found out that it targeted the port of the city," said resident Saeed Hamdaoui, 28. "Then we heard ambulances."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which raised fears of a possible return to the intense Algerian violence of the 1990s, but al Qaeda's north Africa wing has said it carried out previous such blasts.

The interior ministry said the blast was carried out by two attackers who killed themselves in the attack. It was not immediately clear if they were included in the death toll of 30 published by the ministry. It said 47 people were wounded.

North African countries have recently stepped up security coordination to counter armed groups seeking to establish Islamic rule in a region on Europe's southern flank that depends to a large extent on oil and gas exports and tourism.

Al Qaeda's No. 2 commander, Egyptian cleric Ayman al-Zawahri, referred to north Africa in a broadcast in July and said the region's "corrupt" governments should be removed.

Witnesses said the Dellys explosion wrecked the wooden barracks, damaged several neighbouring houses and shattered window panes in nearby streets.

Soldiers armed with automatic rifles sealed off the immediate vicinity after the attack.

Authorities called on Algerians to stage rallies for peace throughout the country, Africa's second biggest, on Sunday.

A Dellys resident, Samir, said: "This is very sad. Young people were killed. I though the situation has improved and that we had almost turned the page of the 1990s. But as you can see the page is not turned yet."

UN, FRANCE CONDEMN ATTACK

In New York, France's UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, current Security Council president, recalled the 15-member body's sharp criticism of the Batna attack.

"This condemnation must obviously be reiterated with strength, after the new heinous terrorist attack committed today in Dellys," he said.

Former colonial power France also deplored the attack.

The foreign ministry said France sent "the most sincere condolences to the families of the victims, to those close to them and to the Algerian authorities and the Algerian people, plunged into mourning by this new expression of terrorism."

The bomber in Batna blew himself up among a crowd of people waiting to see President Abdelaziz Bouteflika make a scheduled visit to the town 430 km (270 miles) southeast of Algiers.

It was the first time a suicide attacker in Algeria had detonated a bomb strapped to his body, rather than using a car bomb, Algerians say.