Eight people were killed and 19 others wounded in a suicide car bombing in Algeria late Saturday, the Algeria Press Service (APS) reported Sunday.

Nine of the injured remain in the hospital and the remainder has returned home, APS quoted the Algerian Interior and Local Communities Ministry.

Interior Minister Nouredinne Yazid Zerhouni and some other officials Sunday went to the scene of the explosion in the popular coastal city of Zemmouri el Bahri, some 45 km east of the capital Algiers, and offered condolences to the families of the victims.

The minister ordered that the area be cleared up and the injured be given immediate care, APS said.

The car blast occurred at about 10:00 p.m. local time (2100 GMT) on Saturday night, pulling down several nearby buildings, APS reported.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

On Aug. 3, a police station in Tizi Ouzou in the eastern Kabylie region was hit by a suicide attack, and 25 people were injured. Al-Qaida's North African branch claimed responsibility for the blast.

(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2008)