Suicide bomber blows self up in Algeria

A suicide bomber blew himself up to avoid arrest in the eastern Algerian town of Bouhamza, causing no other casualties, newspapers reported Wednesday. According to El Watan's online edition, the suspect set off an explosives belt he was wearing when local security encircled him as he left a shop after buying large quantities of food on Tuesday. Security was subsequently beefed up around the town, located around 300 kilometres (180 miles) east of the capital Algiers, the daily said on its website. On Monday, three suspects, including two would-be suicide bombers, were killed by Algerian security forces around 60 kilometres (36 miles) east of Algiers following a tip-off. The country's east has been plagued by a surge in attacks in recent weeks, including a suicide attack against a police station that left two dead and 14 wounded. It was claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a Saharan offshoot of the global extremist network which is active in an area nearly the size of Australia and also affecting Mauritania, Mali and Niger.