Al-Qaida's wing in North Africa claimed responsibility for Wednesday's two bombings in Algeria that killed 30 people, saying they were carried out by three suicide bombers in trucks packed with explosives, Al-Jazeera television reported.

The station said it received a telephone call from a spokesman for Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, identified as Abu Mohammed Salah, claiming responsibility for both attacks.

One of the blasts ripped part of the facade off the prime minister's headquarters at the centre of the elegant port city.

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A second bomb hit Bab Ezzouar on the city's eastern outskirts, the official APS news agency said.

The caller said that the blasts were carried out by three al-Qaida members driving trucks filled with explosives. His claims could not be independently confirmed.

The bombers targeted three sites, the government headquarters in Algiers and the Interpol offices and a special police forces building in the suburb of Bab Ezzouar, the caller said.

"We won't rest until every inch of Islamic land is liberated from foreign forces," the spokesman said in a recording of the phone call aired on Al-Jazeera.

He also called for the release of oppressed prisoners in Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and elsewhere. Al-Jazeera said the call was received at the station's office in Rabat, Morocco.

On an Islamic militant Web site, the group showed pictures of the three suicide bombers who allegedly carried out the attack, codenamed the Badr Raid, after a famed 7th century battle by the Prophet Muhammad and the first Muslims against his opponents, according to Al-Jazeera and the SITE Institute, a U.S. group that monitors militants' messages.

In the photos, provided by the SITE Institute, each bomber - identified as Muadh bin Jabal, al-Zubair Abu Sajda and Abu Dajjana - was shown sitting with automatic rifles propped on the wall on either side of him. Abu Sajda and Abu Dajjana had green scarves covering their faces, showing only their eyes. Abu Sajda and bin Jabal were wearing suicide vests.

The group was formerly known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat - known by its French abbreviation GSPC - but changed its name when it announced its alliance with al-Qaida in January.

The attacks raised fears of a return to the north African oil exporter's recent history of political bloodletting.

Dozens of ambulances converged on the upscale residential neighborhood in the center of the Algerian capital as thousands of people poured onto the streets and survivors were led from the building.

Police sources said seven people, including a suicide bomber, were killed in the blast at the gates of the Prime Minister's headquarters. Among those killed were policemen, the sources said.

Belkhadem, who was not harmed, was quoted by the official Algerian news agency APS as calling the attack a "criminal and cowardly act."

The blast gouged a gapping hole in the six-story government building, shattering windows and showering rubble into cars for blocks around.

"At first I thought it was an earthquake," said lawyer Tahar bin Taleb. "My wife called me a few moments later crying and shouting. I ran home to find all the mirrors and windows in the house were shattered."

Wednesday's attack was the first major bombing in central Algiers in several years.

Violence in Algeria has been on the rise since the main guerrilla group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), adopted a new name in January and deepened its ties to Al-Qaida.

The group has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly bombings targeting security forces and foreigners, and Algerian troops and militants have clashed.