Bomb wounds 9, including 3 foreigners in Algeria-APS

ALGIERS, Sep 21 (Reuters) A bomb exploded near a police convoy accompanying foreign workers in Algeria today, injuring nine people including two French and one Italian, official news agency APS reported.

Five of the gendarmes and the driver were injured by the bomb in the mountainous area of Bouira, 70 km southeast of Algiers in Kabylie region, APS said, calling it a ''terrorist attack''.

''The nine injured people are out of danger,'' it said, quoting the Interior Ministry.

A French company, Razel, said the foreigners were its employees and that it appeared to be a suicide attack that took place at around 7 a.m. It denied that its staff were injured.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, the first attack on foreigners reported in the country since March.

A Razel spokeswoman said the attacker had targeted an off-road vehicle used by the company, which is building a dam in the area.

In March, three Algerians and a Russian were killed in a roadside attack southwest of Algiers on a bus carrying workers for a Russian pipeline construction company.

REUTERS ARB RK1851