Two car bombs went off in Algiers on Tuesday killing at least 47 people. This is the second attack in Algeria, the north African OPEC member, in eight months.

The first blast occurred near a school bus close to the Supreme Court building in the center of the capital, killing 30 people, Times Online informs.

The second bomb went off near the U.N. High Commission for Refugees in the residential area of Hydra and a police station, killing 15 people. Hydra is a district where many foreign companies have their offices.

No immediate claim of responsibility was made, but it bears the trademark of the work of al Qaeda's north Africa wing. They claimed in April a similar attack in Algiers and some other explosions east of the capital in the summer.

After the first blast people ran panicked in the streets and the telephone lines were blocked by residents trying to call their loved ones.

The Algerian Interior Minister, Yazid Zerhouni, said that the attacks were just minutes apart.

He said: "The death toll is very high.”

According to a source, the death toll could reach 60, Reuters reports.

Algeria suffered from more than 10 years of violence that began in 1992. That’s when the government supported by the Army scrapped elections that an Islamic party was sure of winning.

Ever since then violence had decreased, but this year rebels linked to al-Qaeda have carried out attacks, including the one in April that killed 33 people.

In September another attack occurred in the eastern city of Batna, where 22 people were killed and 100 were injured.

In Dellys, two days later, suicide bombers drove a vehicle loaded with explosives into a naval basal barracks. Thirty people were killed and another 50 injured.

Western governments expressed their fears towards the militant islamist activity in the north African region.