Paris/Algiers (dpa) – On September 7 in Batna, 425 kilometres east of Algiers, hundreds of people had gathered near the city’s mosque to await President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Shortly before the president arrived, an explosion ripped through the crowd, shredding bodies and sending survivors fleeing in panic. Twenty-two people were killed and 107 were injured in what might have been just another bloody chapter in Algeria’s long history of terrorism, but for the fact that it was the first ever to involve a terrorist carrying the explosives on his body. It was unclear if the bombing targeted Bouteflika. According to the Algerian Interior Ministry, the bomber fled after failing to penetrate a security cordon and then blew himself up.
