Grenade blast kills children

– Two children have been killed and four others wounded when a homemade grenade exploded in the Ahnif area east of the Algerian capital, the El Watan newspaper said yesterday.

Armed groups had placed the improvised explosive there to delay the advance of security forces pursuing them in the mountainous region, according to media.

“A homemade grenade exploded Saturday near six children who were playing [in the village] of Tamezyavt” in Ahnif, in the province of Bouira about 100km from the capital of Algiers, the civil defence said on Saturday.

It gave a toll of one dead and five wounded, but El Watan said yesterday that a second child had succumbed to wounds.

The children who died were aged 10 and 12, the newspaper said.

It said the four wounded children were in serious condition and had been transferred to the hospital in Tizi Ouzou.

Algeria regularly announces it has killed hardline Islamists in operations targeting “terrorists”.

Algerians had hoped that a 2005 peace and reconciliation charter would turn the page on a 1991-2002 civil war between Islamists and security forces that cost 200 000 lives.

But Islamist groups remain active in some areas, mostly targeting the police and army. –

Algiers