Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ALGIERS1775
2007-12-11 17:37:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Algiers
Cable title:
CAR BOMBS IN ALGIERS TARGET U.N. AND SUPREME COURT
how-toVZCZCXYZ0000 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHAS #1775 3451737 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 111737Z DEC 07 FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4981 INFO RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO PRIORITY 0335 RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 8715 RUEHNM/AMEMBASSY NIAMEY PRIORITY 1385 RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT PRIORITY 6131 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 2447 RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 2057 RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 6915 RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA PRIORITY 3164 RUEPGBA/CDR USEUCOM INTEL VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 001775
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2017
TAGS: PTER ASEC AG
SUBJECT: CAR BOMBS IN ALGIERS TARGET U.N. AND SUPREME COURT
Classified By: AMBASSADOR ROBERT FORD. REASONS 1.4 (D).
C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 001775
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2017
TAGS: PTER ASEC AG
SUBJECT: CAR BOMBS IN ALGIERS TARGET U.N. AND SUPREME COURT
Classified By: AMBASSADOR ROBERT FORD. REASONS 1.4 (D).
1. (U) On December 11, for the first time in exactly eight
months, car bombs hit Algiers. The first explosion occurred
near the building housing UN offices in the Algiers
neighborhood of Hydra, and the second in front of the
Algerian Supreme Court building in Ben Aknoun at or around
0945. Each site is about two miles from the Embassy. The
Supreme Court building sustained some damage on one side.
Most of the casualties there came from a university student
bus that was passing when the car bomb detonated.
2. (C) The UN building, which had almost no setback,
sustained heavy damage. Debris from the blast landed in an
Embassy-leased residential compound several hundred meters
away. Initial information from UN contacts indicated that
two Algerian employees were killed and over a dozen people
were injured. There are also reports of a number of people
still missing at the UN site.
3. (C) Algerian Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said on
Algiers Radio that the UN building explosion was likely a
suicide attack. No one has yet claimed responsibility for
the attacks, but they appear to carry the fingerprints of
Al-Qaeda in the Land of Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). There was a
big surge in the hits on AQIM's official website in the
aftermath of the bombing; the site got nearly 2,000 hits in a
period of three hours, many times the normal number.
4. (C) Comment: The bombs went off in posh residential areas
where many high-level officials and Embassy personnel live to
include other embassies' locations. Both Hydra and Ben
Aknoun are usually known to be congested with traffic at that
time of the day. There was an attempted car bomb on April 11
in Hydra near the National Police Chief's residence, which is
very close to the UN building. Embassy will send EAC cable
septel. We anticipate a vigorous Algerian security response,
but the government's ability to prevent this kind of attack
is limited.
FORD
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2017
TAGS: PTER ASEC AG
SUBJECT: CAR BOMBS IN ALGIERS TARGET U.N. AND SUPREME COURT
Classified By: AMBASSADOR ROBERT FORD. REASONS 1.4 (D).
1. (U) On December 11, for the first time in exactly eight
months, car bombs hit Algiers. The first explosion occurred
near the building housing UN offices in the Algiers
neighborhood of Hydra, and the second in front of the
Algerian Supreme Court building in Ben Aknoun at or around
0945. Each site is about two miles from the Embassy. The
Supreme Court building sustained some damage on one side.
Most of the casualties there came from a university student
bus that was passing when the car bomb detonated.
2. (C) The UN building, which had almost no setback,
sustained heavy damage. Debris from the blast landed in an
Embassy-leased residential compound several hundred meters
away. Initial information from UN contacts indicated that
two Algerian employees were killed and over a dozen people
were injured. There are also reports of a number of people
still missing at the UN site.
3. (C) Algerian Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said on
Algiers Radio that the UN building explosion was likely a
suicide attack. No one has yet claimed responsibility for
the attacks, but they appear to carry the fingerprints of
Al-Qaeda in the Land of Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). There was a
big surge in the hits on AQIM's official website in the
aftermath of the bombing; the site got nearly 2,000 hits in a
period of three hours, many times the normal number.
4. (C) Comment: The bombs went off in posh residential areas
where many high-level officials and Embassy personnel live to
include other embassies' locations. Both Hydra and Ben
Aknoun are usually known to be congested with traffic at that
time of the day. There was an attempted car bomb on April 11
in Hydra near the National Police Chief's residence, which is
very close to the UN building. Embassy will send EAC cable
septel. We anticipate a vigorous Algerian security response,
but the government's ability to prevent this kind of attack
is limited.
FORD