There were two near simultaneous bombings in Algiers which occurred on 11 December 2007 when two

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, van bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roug ...

s exploded 10 minutes apart starting at around 9:30 a.m. local time, in the

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

n capital,

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

. The al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for the attacks, stating that it was "another successful conquest ..carried out by the Knights of the Faith with their blood in defense of the wounded nation of Islam." These attacks constitute another act of violence in the ongoing Islamic insurgency, a continuation of the

Algerian Civil War The Algerian Civil War (), known in Algeria as the Black Decade (, ), was a civil war fought between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups from 11 January 1992 (following a 1992 Algerian coup d'état, coup negating an Islami ...

that has claimed 200,000 lives.

Targets

Two car bombs containing 800 kg (1,700 lb) of explosives each were used in the bombings. The first explosion occurred in the Ben Aknoun district, near the Supreme Constitutional Court. This was followed ten minutes later by a second blast on the road that separates the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

offices from the offices of the

UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...

(United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) in the Hydra neighborhood. The United Nations building partially collapsed in the explosion while the UNHCR offices were "leveled" according to a UNHCR official. The United Nations building housed the offices of the

UN Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

(UNDP), the

World Food Programme The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961 ...

(WFP), the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

(ILO), the

UN Industrial Development Organization The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (French: Organisation des Nations unies pour le développement industriel; French/Spanish acronym: ONUDI) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that assists countries in ...

(UNIDO), the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the Department of Safety and Security (DSS) and the Population Fund (UNFPA). The collapsed section mainly housed the UNDP. The attack against the UN office was a suicide bombing. It is as yet unknown whether the same is true for the Constitutional Court attack. The attack caused the third highest staff casualties in the history of the United Nations, after the 2003 Canal Hotel bombing, which targeted the UN headquarters in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, Iraq, and also killed the Secretary-General's Special Representative to Iraq

Sérgio Vieira de Mello Sérgio Vieira de Mello (; 15 March 1948 – 19 August 2003) was a Brazilian United Nations diplomat who worked on several UN humanitarian and political programs for over 34 years. The Government of Brazil posthumously awarded the Sergio Vieira ...

and 21 other staff members and the

2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...

in which 22 UN peacekeepers have been confirmed dead as of 14 January 2010; and 150 missing. The

Head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

MINUSTAH The United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (), also known as MINUSTAH, an acronym of its French name, was a UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti from 2004 to 2017. It was composed of 2,366 military personnel and 2,533 police, supported by int ...

was killed in the disaster.

Casualties

The bombings are believed to have killed at least 31 people. Among the dead were 17 United Nations employees at work in their offices, including 14 Algerians and a Dane, a Filipino, and a

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

ese. A Chinese construction worker was also killed. This official death toll, provided by Algerian

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

Yazid Zerhouni Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni () (5 September 1937 – 18 December 2020) was the interior minister of Algeria. He was born in Tunis. In 2000, he was hospitalized in Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of t ...

, conflicts with numbers reported by hospital and rescue officials, which triple the government's count. Many people are still unaccounted for. A number of them are possibly still trapped under the rubble, according to UN spokeswoman Maria Okabe. Jean Fabre, head of the UN Development Programme's

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

office, indicated they were still searching for survivors in the rubble. 177 people were injured in total, according to Zerhouni.

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

has confirmed that the bombers used homemade

nitroglycerin Nitroglycerin (NG) (alternative spelling nitroglycerine), also known as trinitroglycerol (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless or pale yellow, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by ...

bombs, which had iron nails in them to increase casualties. The

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

held an official meeting on the same day in order to condemn the attacks.

References

External links

In pictures: Algeria bomb attacks
(BBC)
"Voices of Terrorism Victims" ''UN in Action'' No. 1579
an interview with Karima Bennoune about her colleague and former neighbor Chadli Hamza who was killed in the bombing; from UN Web TV's ''UN in Action'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Algiers Bombings Mass murder in 2007 2007 disasters in Algeria Terrorist incidents in Africa in 2007 Terrorist incidents in Algeria in the 2000s History of the United Nations Suicide car and truck bombings in Algeria Bombings, 2007 Islamic terrorism in Algeria Islamic terrorist incidents in 2007 Terrorist incidents attributed to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Improvised explosive device bombings in Algiers Algeria and the United Nations 2007 murders in Algeria December 2007 in Africa Mass murder in Algiers 21st-century mass murder in Algeria Car and truck bombings in 2007

Targets

Casualties

See also

References

External links