Algeria bomb trial postponed

Trial delay of 18 people charged with bomb attack on government buildings in April 2007 is due to Al-Qaeda leader’s absence.

Middle East Online

ALGIERS - The trial in Algeria of 18 people charged with a bloody bomb attack on the government buildings in April 2007 has been postponed until April 12, the official APS news agency reported. The delay was due to the absence of some of the accused, notably a chief of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Abdelmalek Droukdel, said the judge, Benkharchi Omar. The bomb attack on April 11, 2007, killed 20 people and wounded more than 222. It was carried out simultaneously with another attack against the headquarters of urban security in the Bab Ezzouar neighbourhood in the east of Algiers, not far from the airport. Several of the accused have already been sentenced in connection with other attacks, APS said. AQIM is active in several countries of northwest Africa, but first emerged in Algeria as a transformation of an Islamic extremist group that was fighting the regime.