Oueid Khenig-Roum bombing

On January 14, 2021, a bomb killed five people in the rural area of Oueid Khenig-Roum, near Telidjane, in Algeria's Tébessa Province. The device was a homemade landmine placed on a road by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The victims were hunters from Bir el Ater who were traveling to a hunting area when their civilian vehicle drove over the mine. Five people were killed and three others were wounded in the explosion.

The attack occurred against a backdrop of ongoing, though limited, AQIM activity in Algeria. AQIM's predecessor organization, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, had launched incursions and bombings into Algerian territory following the end of the Algerian Civil War, as the group consolidated power in Mali, Niger, and Mauritania. Many of these earlier attacks targeted Algerian soldiers rather than civilians. In December 2020, a shootout in Jijel Province killed an Algerian officer and three AQIM fighters. In early January 2021, clashes between Algerian soldiers and AQIM fighters killed three soldiers and six fighters.

In a statement announcing the Oueid Khenig-Roum bombing, the Algerian Ministry of Defense also reported that a separate shootout occurring several hours later in Khenchela Province resulted in the death of a jihadist. Algerian authorities stated this individual had been monitoring the area to scope out locations for a planned jihadist attack.

The Oueid Khenig-Roum bombing was described as the deadliest attack on civilians in Algeria in several years, and the first civilian vehicle bombing carried out by jihadists in Algeria in a decade. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack, but stated that it had not intended to kill civilians. Egypt issued a statement on January 15, 2021, condemning the bombing.