6 suspects in court over Algeria bombing

Six suspects appeared before an investigating judge in connection with deadly twin truck bombings in December at a U.N. office and a government building in Algiers, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

The ministry also said the suspected ringleader behind the attacks, identified as Bouzegza Abderahmane, was killed during a Jan. 28 sweep by security forces in Souk el-Had, a section of the Boumerdes region east of the capital.

Security concerns have been high in Algeria since the Dec. 11 suicide bombings struck U.N. offices and the Constitutional Council building, killing at least 37 people — including 17 U.N. workers.

The dual attacks were the most serious in a recent wave of violence signaling that Islamic fighters are regrouping in the North African country. An al-Qaida affiliate in Algeria has claimed responsibility.

The ministry did not release the entire names of the suspects, did not say what the next step in the prosecution would be, nor did it specify when the six had been detained.

Abderahmane, known better as the "emir" Bouzegza, was said to be a highly sought target by Algerian authorities and the subject of 43 search warrants over the last decade.

He was believed to be a leader of the El-Farouk brigade, a wing of al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa — the new name of a longtime insurgent group in Algeria.

The ministry said as El-Farouk was also behind a Dec. 10 attack on two vehicles carrying employees of an affiliate of U.S. company Halliburton near Algiers, killing an Algerian driver and injuring nine others.

"All the bombings recently committed in the Algiers area have been elucidated," said Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, quoted by the official news agency APS.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called in December for an independent panel to investigate the twin bombings. The Algerian government has opposed a U.N. investigation, saying it was already investigating the attacks.