Two car bombs rocked a hotel and military headquarters in Algeria, killing 12 people and wounding 42 on Wednesday, with the country still reeling from a suicide bomber who killed 48 people a day earlier. The two car bombs were triggered by remote control. The first hit a regional military command and injured four soldiers in Bouira, some 100 kilometers southeast of the capital Algiers, the state-run APS news agency reported. A minute later, at least 12 people died and 27 were wounded when a second bomb exploded next to a nearby downtown hotel. Most of the victims were traveling in a bus that was parked in front of the Sophie hotel, APS said. The 12 victims were Algerian employees of the Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, the company said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but an Al-Qaeda group has staged several attacks in Algeria over the past year and has been involved in clashes with government forces in the oil and gas-rich country. The early morning blast blew out windows in the hotel and other nearby buildings. A security cordon was immediately thrown around the centre of Bouira, witnesses said. The SNC-Lavalin staff were traveling to work on the Koudiat Acerdoune water treatment plant and distribution project when their bus was attacked, the company said. The company employs 2,000 staff across the country. The bombings at Bouira follow a spate of attacks by Al-Qaeda's north African wing including a bombing on Tuesday that killed 48 people and ambushes on Sunday that killed 11. The double attack is the sixth major terrorist action this month in the North African nation. Bouira is part of a so-called “zone of death” it forms with Algiers, Tizi Ouzou and Boumerdes where attacks have been rife. The wave of Islamist attacks has caused international concern, partly because of Algeria's importance as a supplier of natural gas. China lambasted the “terrorist action,” while Russia said it would back Algiers' efforts to eradicate “underground terrorist organizations” with the United States, Britain and Spain among others also expressing their solidarity with the victims. US President George W. Bush offered his “sincere condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and to the people of Algeria,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
