Small bomb kills one, wounds two in Algeria-residents

ALGIERS, May 16 (Reuters) A small bomb exploded near a police roadblock in eastern Algerian today on the eve of parliamentary elections, killing one policeman and wounding at least two other people, residents said.

The device, believed to have been rigged inside a package, went off in the poor Dakssi neighbourhood of the city of Constantine 320 km east of Algiers, they said.

Police officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Residents said the bomb was believed to have been placed by Islamist rebels seeking to set up Islamic rule in the large oil- and gas-exporting north African country.

Algerians go to the polls tomorrow to choose the 389 members of the lower house of parliament, the third time they have done so since an Islamist revolt erupted after the cancellation of a general election in January, 1992.

Supporters of a now-outlawed Muslim fundamentalist party that was poised to win those elections subsequently launched an armed rebellion against the state.

Up to 200,000 people have been killed in political bloodshed since then, and while the violence has dropped sharply in recent years a recent spate of bombings by armed Islamist groups has threatened Algeria's attempts to rebuild.

The government vowed today to fight against Islamist rebels after recent bombings claimed by al Qaeda's north Africa's wing, saying the attacks would not derail a reconciliation plan aimed to end years of bloodshed.

''The fight against terrorists will go on without respite,'' Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said in remarks published by government-backed newspaper El Moudjahid.

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