ALGIERS, July 5: A bomb in a crowded market outside Algiers killed at least 35 people on Friday and injured many others, hospital and government security sources said.

It was the worst killing of civilians in a single attack in strife-torn Algeria this year, they said.

The bombing came as the North African nation celebrated on Friday the 40th anniversary of independence from French colonial rule after a savage war.

It also occurred three days after the army chief declared that the government had won its war against guerillas.

No group claimed responsibility for the bombing but security sources said the attack resembled many similar bombings in the past nine years.

The bomb exploded at the market in the town of Larba, 25kms south of Algiers, early on Friday when markets are usually packed with shoppers, the sources said. “The bomb was hidden inside a heap of garbage bags just at the entrance of the market,” one source said.—Reuters