Bomb death toll rises to 21 in Algiers market blast

A bomb exploded in a crowded market in Algiers on July 14 killing 21 people and wounding about 40, Algerian state-run radio said, quoting a security forces statement.

Earlier in a statement carried on the official news agency APS, the security forces said the bomb, in the southern Algiers suburb of Baraki, had killed at least 11 people and wounded 40.

The bomb went off at around 11:15 a.m. in the weekly market in Baraki, a southern suburb of the capital.

Rescue services raced to the market to help the victims of what the authorities termed, "this criminal act."

The explosion came one day after Algeria's authorities vowed to enforce security measures in public places which had been decided on last month but only loosely implemented.

Algerian gunmen killed at least 44 villagers in attacks on isolated Algerian communities over the weekend and kidnapped 21 girls from one village, an Algerian newspaper said on July 14.

Al Watan daily, well informed on security matters, said around 20 gunmen attacked Fetha village, near Ksarel Boukhari, southwest of Algiers, over Saturday-Sunday night.

They killed 33 members of five families, including 14 women and four adolescents, the paper said.

"This attack was apparently led by a terrorist group to take revenge on a dissident (gunmen) group," the paper said.

It added, "The day before the attack the body of a peasant was found. He had been kidnapped tortured and decapitated in Ksarel Boukhari area."

Algeria's main Arabic language newspaper, El Khabar, said the gunmen used knives or axes to cut their throats or stab the villagers to death.

The gunmen dragged off 21 young girls from the village, it said.

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