ZEMMOURI, Algeria (Reuters) — A suicide car bomb attack on security forces killed at least six civilians east of Algiers late on Saturday, the second such blast this month, authorities said Sunday.

Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni told state radio that six civilians were killed and 18 were injured in the attack in Zemmouri, about 30 miles east of the capital, Algiers.

Residents said that gendarmes opened fire on the bomber when he refused to stop, but that they failed to prevent the detonation.

The bomber’s targets were a coast guard barracks and a post of the paramilitary gendarmerie, the radio said. Witnesses said that the gendarmerie post was destroyed but that the barracks were only slightly damaged.

The radio quoted Mr. Zerhouni as saying that the attack appeared to have been in retaliation for an army ambush that killed 12 rebels late last week. The ambush was said to be part of the army’s pursuit of rebels behind a car bombing in Tizi Ouzou on Aug. 3 that wounded 25 people.

Al Qaeda’s North African wing, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, took responsibility for that attack. No immediate claim followed Saturday’s bombing.

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