Algerian blast kills 22

A BOMB exploded in the Algerian city of Tiaret yesterday, killing at least 22 people and injuring 60 others.

While few details were immediately available, hospital sources said security forces were searching the area - about 200 miles south of the capital Algiers - for the bombers.

While nobody had claimed responsibility for the attack last night, the explosion is the latest in an upsurge of violence since the announcement last week by President Liamine Zeroual that he would stand down and call early elections.

President Zeroual, a former general, has been unable to put a stop to violence that erupted in 1992 after an Islamic insurgency broke out when the military cancelled parliamentary elections that an Islamic party was set to win.

At least 75,000 people have been killed in violence since then.