One of the sources estimated the number of injured at more than 100, including some who were in critical condition.

One explosion targetted the offices of the UN refugee agency in Algiers, while the other bomb was triggered near the Algerian Supreme Court building.

Ten UN staff, all Algerians, were among the dead, a senior UN official said.

All were in the offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and neighbouring UN Development Programme when the bomb went off, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In Geneva, UNDP deputy director Jean Fabre told reporters that 12 UN employees were missing.

Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said a suicide bomber was used in at least one of the two attacks.

'The death toll is very high,' Zerhouni told reporters.

Those killed included a number of university students, riding in a bus that took the full force of the explosion outside the Supreme Court.



Agencies