Car bomb attack on UN building in Algeria kills 67

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The explosions - the worst terrorist attack to hit the country in more than a decade - were aimed at the city's Constitutional Council and the United Nations offices.

Many of the dead were students travelling in a schoolbus, which took the full force of one of the blasts and was completely destroyed.

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Rescue workers carry an injured man to safety

Rescuers dig frantically for survivors

In statement posted on a militant website last night, Al Qaeda said two "martyrs" had driven cars packed with explosives "to attack the headquarters of the international infidels' den".

It added: "This is another successful conquest carried out by the Knights of the Faith with their blood in defence of the wounded nation of Islam."

Although experts have yet to confirm if the statement is genuine, senior Algerian politicians have already claimed the bombings to be the work of Al Qaeda.

Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, the country's interior minister, said he believed the bombs were set off by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat - the former name of Al Qaeda's north African wing.

He added: "We are sure that the GSPC is behind it."

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An emergency worker inspects the crater after the blasts

Entire buildings came down around the workers

UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon said: "This was an abjectly cowardly strike against civilian officials serving humanity's highest ideals under the UN banner - base, indecent and unjustifiable by even the most barbarous political standard."

U.S. President George Bush condemned the bombings as attacks by "an enemy of the civilised world".

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who visited Algiers last week, called the blasts "barbaric and profoundly cowardly acts".

Algerian prime minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem said: "These are crimes that targeted innocent people. Schoolchildren and students were among the victims. Nothing can justify the crime."

Emergency workers stare at the gaping hole in the skyline