ALGERIA: UPDATE - SIX REPORTED DEAD IN ATTACKS

Algiers, 13 Feb. (AKI) - Six people died and another 16 were wounded in a series of explosions on Tuesday targeting police stations and government offices in the Kabylia area in eastern Algeria, satellite television al-Arabiya reported. At least five car bombs exploded in the cities of Tizi Ouzu and Bourmedes in attacks police believe were carried out by the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).

The GSPC is believed to have recently changed its name into the Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb after it pledged allegiance last year to the international terror network led by Osama bin Laden.

An Algerian Islamic insurgency started in 1992 after authorities cancelled elections an Islamist party was poised to win.

The insurgency is now conducted by the GSPC with an estimated 500 militants, significantly less than in the 1990s when some 30,000 insurgents operated in the country. Militant strongholds are located in Algeria's mountains and parts of the southern desert.