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 ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - A car bombing killed 28 coast guard officers in Algeria on Saturday, just days after a blast ripped through a crowd waiting for the president. Both suspected al-Qaida-linked attacks targeted symbols of the government as it tries to wipe out an Islamic insurgency.
Although there was no claim of responsibility in either attack, al-Qaida's North African affiliate has carried out a spate of recent bombings that have shattered the Algerian government's efforts — successful until recently — to restore calm after a 15-year Islamist insurgency.
The government has responded by intensifying military crackdowns on Islamic militants hiding out in remote scrubland. Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni warned terrorists Friday that they have "one choice: turn themselves in, or die."
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