The terrorist group says it was behind a car bombing on 19 August, killing at least 43 people at a police college. The next day it carried out a further two car bombings, killing 12 Algerian employees of Canadian engineering firm, SNC-Lavalin.

Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks in a televised statement on Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera. It also stressed that the group only targets government security forces and not civilians. The Algerian government disputes this.

Algeria suffered from a ruinous civil war in the 1990’s that killed more than 200,000 people. The country has enjoyed a greater degree of stability over the past five years, but has recently seen a return to violence as Islamist militants increasingly focus on the country.