Two bombings in Algiers kill 62

ALGIERS, Algeria, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Two near-simultaneous bombings Tuesday near Algeria's Supreme Court and the United Nations offices in Algiers killed at least 62 people Tuesday.

Algerian Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said no claim of responsibility for the attacks had been received, the BBC reported.

There was no initial report of the number of people injured.

The Algerian Press Service quoted Zerhouni as saying he suspected the offices of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the seat of Algeria's Constitutional Council were the targets of the attacks.

A U.N. worker told the BBC the front of a four-story building had been sheared off by the blast and CNN said video footage showed a crater in the road where the car had been parked.

In the blast near the court, the BBC said a bus packed with university students took the brunt of the blast and all but disintegrated.

Scores of people have been killed in Algeria this year, with many of the bombings attributed to al-Qaida militants. In September, an al-Qaida call went out to "cleanse" North Africa of Westerners.