Two car bombings exploded in the Algerian capital on Tuesday, killing up to 67 people and injuring nearly 200. The attacks, targeting security forces and Western installations, are the latest in a string of attacks by Algeria’s leading Islamic terrorist organization dating back to March 2004.

In the almost simultaneous attacks, reportedly carried out by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (also known as the al Qaeda Organization for the Countries of the Arab Maghreb since it swore allegiance to al Qaeda in 2006), bombs exploded outside the Supreme Court and the United Nation’s refugee agency. At least 11 UN workers were among those killed.

“This is another successful conquest … carried out by the Knights of the Faith with their blood in defense of the wounded nation of Islam,” said a Web statement by the group.

This attack is just one of dozens that this group is suspected to have carried out in the past four years. In September: a suicide attack against the president’s convoy killed 22 people and wounded more than 100; a suicide attack against coast guard barracks killed 30 people and wounded 40. In July, a suicide bombing at army barracks killed nine. In April, suicide bombings in the capital killed at least 17 people. And so on.

The latest attack, which targeted Westerners as well as the government, calls into question the ability of the country’s security forces to contain the ongoing Islamist insurgency, which has continued despite a crackdown by the military-dominated state.

“They attacked … neighborhoods where there is plenty of security, which is a way to show their strength in the war with security services,” said Anne Giudicelli, a former French diplomat specializing in the Middle East.

It also indicates the group’s disapproval of recent European inroads into the country, coming just a few days after France’s Nicolas Sarkozy visited Algeria, signing billions of dollars’ worth of energy deals between the two countries. The European Union has also been trying to extend its sphere of influence into Northern Africa through establishing a Mediterranean Union.

The date chosen by the terrorist group—December 11—along with the location of one of the attacks points to those attacks being a protest against the Algerian government’s cooperation with Europe. December 11 is observed by Algerians each year as the anniversary of massive pro-independence protests that occurred in 1960, which represented a turning point in Algeria’s war for independence from France. The government building that was hit on Tuesday was located on a street named after that date: December 11, 1960, Boulevard.

The current Islamist insurgency in Algeria dates back to that country’s 1990-91 elections, the Arab world’s only truly free elections to that point. The nation’s main Islamist party was slated to win by a landslide. Feeling threatened, the military annulled the results, leading to a massive Islamic insurgency and years of virtual civil war in the country in which up to 200,000 people have been killed. In more recent years, the insurgency has been largely contained, though terrorist attacks continue to occur with high frequency.

For now, security forces appear able to keep the lid on Islamist forces. But, as Stratfor writes, “Algeria’s militancy problem is unlikely to subside anytime soon, especially with the potential for militants with experience in Iraq to relocate to the North African theater” (December 11).

Though not currently considered a possibility by most analysts, don’t be surprised if in the future, the Islamists create enough instability to again make political inroads in Algeria. In The King of the South, editor in chief Gerald Flurry details the biblically based possibility of the radical Islamist movement taking control of Algeria, causing that country to come further into Iran’s sphere of influence. The simmering Islamist militancy movement in Algeria reminds us of that possibility.