Syrian Officers among Dead in Algerian Attack

Two Syrian officers were among 18 people killed in a twin suicide bombing at a military academy in Algeria, a diplomat said Sunday.

The Algerian Defense Ministry had said 16 officers and two civilians were killed and 26 people wounded in Friday's attack on the Cherchell military academy, west of Algiers.

The two Syrians were army lieutenants-colonel Ahmad Ahmad and Anouar Saad, said the source who requested that his name be withheld.

They had arrived in Algeria on August 8 to follow a one-year training course at the academy that counts many foreigners among its students.

Tunisia announced Saturday that one of its officers, Major Bechir Ouerghi, was also killed in the attack.

The bodies of the two Syrians should be repatriated later on Sunday, said the diplomat.

Al-Watan newspaper said suicide bombers tried to cause as many casualties as possible by targeting the officers' mess just as all soldiers had assembled to break the Ramadan fast.

The bombers, one on a motorcycle, set off explosions a few seconds apart outside the entrance to the officers' mess hall, the paper said.