ALGIERS, Jan 2: A suicide car bomber rammed on Wednesday his explosives-laden vehicle into a police station in Naciria, east of the Algerian capital, killing at least four people and wounding 12 others, radio said.

“A suicide bomber drove fast into the police station at the wheel of a booby-trapped car, causing major damage to the building,” one witness said.

The wounded included nine police officers, the state radio said,

Troops later cordoned off the scene of the blast, according to residents, who said that to carry out the bombing the attacker must have had to drive straight through police barriers.

An adjoining building used by local businesses was also damaged.

The French foreign ministry said it condemned the attack “in the strongest terms” and voiced its “solidarity with the Algerian authorities in their struggle against terrorism”.

Naciria is in the eastern region of Kabylie, where the head of Al-Qaeda’s north Africa branch Abdelmalek Droukdel, alias Abou Moussaab Abdelouadoud, has his headquarters, according to Algerian security forces.

Responsibility for the blast, which took place at around 7:00 am (0600 GMT), had not been claimed by the end of the morning, and the interior ministry gave no details apart from the time and a first casualty report.—AFP