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AFP - The two dead were identified as a security guard and an elderly passer-by.

Security officials did not give details about the attack or the condition of the wounded but local press reports said a bomb exploded at the entrance to the barracks about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Algiers.

The attack targeted the so-called communal guards, a force created in the early 1990s which were marked by Islamist violence and a government crackdown on Muslim fundamentalism that left 150,000 people dead according to official figures.

The guards are generally deployed in small towns and are often backed up by paramilitary forces.

In the last attack before Saturday's, nine security guards were killed on February 22 when Muslim extremists attacked their local headquarters at Ziama Mansouriah near Jijel, about 360 kilometres east of Algiers.

A week later Interior Minister Yazid Erhouni said security forces had killed about 120 armed Islamists since September 1 last year including top ringleaders.

The attack came just over a month before presidential elections on April 9 when President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is seeking a third mandate.