Al Qaeda group says it targeted Algerian president

(CNN) -- A militant Islamic group that recently renamed itself al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for two suicide attacks that killed dozens in Algeria -- including an assassination attempt on the country's president.

A statement posted on the group's Web site Sunday said Abu al-Muqdad al-Wahrani -- strapped with an explosives belt -- was unable to get past the security guards protecting Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika when he visited the town of Batna on Thursday just east of the capital city, Algiers.

"The martyr was not able to reach his target ... and detonated his belt amid Bouteflika's security cordon," the statement said.

That attack killed 19 and wounded 107 others, state-run news agency Algerie Presse Service reported.

Al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb also claimed responsibility for Saturday's suicide attack on an Algerian Coast Guard barracks in the port of Dellys, some 50 miles (80 km) from Algiers.

The statement said the bomber -- who went by the name of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the slain leader of al Qaeda in Iraq -- drove a truck packed with 800 kilograms (1,760 lbs) of explosives into the barracks, surprising some 150 military personnel during their "morning gathering," the statement said.

The Saturday morning attack killed at least 50 people and wounded 47 others, according to Algeria's state-run media.

Al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb is formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, a militant Islamic group waging war to overthrow the Algerian government.

The group claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in Algiers on the Algerian prime minister's office in April. Algeria's prime minster was not hurt, but 12 people were killed and 118 were wounded

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the group declared its allegiance to al Qaeda as early as 2003 and was officially approved by al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri in a videotape released last year on the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The United States considers Algeria an important player in the fight against terrorism and the spread of Islamic fundamentalism.

However, after the military halted an election that would have installed an Islamic government, the North African country dealt with an insurgency throughout the 1990s that left at least 100,000 people dead, according to the CIA Factbook.

Algeria also contends with a restive Berber minority that seeks autonomy, as well as an al Qaeda affiliate.

On Friday, Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said terrorists have "one choice: Turn themselves in or die," The Associated Press reported. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

All About Algeria • Terrorism