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AQIM says Algeria attack a gift for Eid

ALGIERS, Algeria, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Twin suicide bombings of a military academy in Algeria were a "gift" marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, an al-Qaida group said.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb took responsibility for attacks on the Cherchell Military Academy last week in Algeria. The attack left 16 students and two civilians dead.

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AQIM in a statement said the bombing was "a gift for Eid," Voice of America reports. Eid al-Fitr is the three-day celebration marking the end of Ramadan.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the attacks show terrorists have no respect for the principles of Islam.

"The timing, at exactly the point when the officers were about to sit down to iftar (the fast-breaking meal), demonstrates that these terrorists have absolutely no regard for human life nor respect for Ramadan," he said.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika lifted a 19-year state of emergency in February but threats from groups like AQIM trump political challenges in the country.

A 12-minute audiotape purportedly of Osama bin Laden, released after his death in May, praised protests and uprisings in African and Middle East countries.

Commenting on North Africa's Maghreb, which includes Tunisia, Libya and Algeria, a voice said to be bin Laden's is heard saying, "The (Muslim) nation was always getting ready for the victory that is rising from the eastern horizon but the surprise was that the sun of the revolution rose from the Maghreb, the west."

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