Bomb explodes near Algeria official car-residents

ALGIERS, July 5 (Reuters) A bomb exploded today near a car carrying the governor of Algeria's restive Tizi Ouzou region, in the first apparent assassination attempt in years against a top local government official, residents said.

A policeman was wounded but the governor, or wali, Hocine Mazouz, was unharmed when the device went off beside a road in Ain al-Hamam village seconds after his car passed by, they said.

Mazouz was on a tour inspecting public works projects near Tizi Ouzou town, capital of the region of the same name, in the politically volatile Kabylie mountains east of Algiers.

The last reported attack on a wali -- a well-guarded and influential post appointed by the interior ministry -- occurred in the 1990s, the residents said. Police were not immediately available for comment.

Islamist armed groups often set off bombs in mountainous rural areas in their fight against government forces in this large oil- and gas-exporting north African country but have started to target towns in recent months.

Up to 200,000 people have been killed in political bloodshed since 1992 when supporters of a now-outlawed Muslim fundamentalist party that was poised to win elections that year subsequently launched an armed rebellion against the state.

The rebel group, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), claimed responsibility for triple suicide bombings that killed 33 people on April 11 in Algiers.

The violence has dropped sharply in recent years but a recent spate of bombings claimed by al Qaeda's north Africa's wing has threatened Algeria's attempts to rebuild.

Dozens of Islamist guerrillas remain at large in and around Tiz Ouzou region due to criminal and family links and the protection offered by remote terrain.

The region is also a bastion of Algeria's Berber speakers, who have long had tense ties with the authorities, protesting at what they see as discrimination by the Arab majority.

REUTERS AGL BD1659