HIGHLIGHTS: The Market Bomb Near the Capital Is the Deadliest Attack on Civilians this Year||No. Of Injuries in First Blast Around 80; in the Second 2||The Attacks Appear to Have Come in Response to Army Claims Two Days Earlier it Has Won the War Against Armed Opposition Groups|| STORY: Two bombs rocked Algeria as the country marked its 40th independence anniversary on Friday, one blast ripping through a crowded market killing at least 35 people and injuring about 80. The market bomb near Algiers, the deadliest single attack on civilians this year, was followed by a second blast at a beach -- also near the capital -- in which two bathers were injured, security sources said.

No group claimed responsibility, but the government blamed armed Islamic opposition groups who have been accused of carrying out many similar bombings over the past nine years.

The first bomb tore through the market at Larba, 15 miles south of Algiers at 9.15 a.m. local time when it was packed with shoppers and farmers who go there each week to buy and sell vegetables and fruit.

The device was hidden inside a heap of garbage bags just at the entrance to the market, one security source told Reuters.

"The death toll climbed to at least 35 as seriously wounded people died later at hospital," a government hospital official said. The number of injured in the blast, which gouged out a two-meter-deep crater, was put at around 80. (Read photo caption)

SECOND BOMB

The second bomb exploded about four hours later on a beach near the high-security Sidi Frej area outside Algiers where senior government officials and their families live. Security sources gave no details of the injuries sustained by the two bathers.

The attacks came three days after the army chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Mohamed Lamari, declared the government had won its war against armed Islamic opposition groups.

The government said the Islamists staged the attacks to spoil independence celebrations marking the end of the North African country's colonial rule by France after a savage war.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika held to his schedule, flying to the coastal city of Annaba, about 250 miles east of Algiers, where the country's soccer cup final was held. Political sources said he wanted to deny the armed opposition publicity.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Algeria since 1992 when the oil-producing nation was plunged into violence shortly after the cancellation of a parliamentary election that Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win.

PHOTO CAPTION

Forensic experts examine the bodies of bombing victims in an Algiers morgue after an explosion at the Larba open-air market outside Algiers, Algeria, which killed at least 29 people and injured 36 others, Friday, July 5, 2002. The attack comes on the day that Algerians celebrated the 40th year of their independence from France. (AP Photo)