Two attacks would have been thwarted in Blida, Algeria, in the context of the visit of Pope Leo XIV.

Two attempted attacks took place on Monday, in the early afternoon, in Blida, according to images and information from social media, confirmed by local sources for Le Figaro.

The city, with approximately 300,000 inhabitants, is located 50 kilometers south of Algiers and is under the surveillance of security forces during the visit of Pope Leo XIV.

Although the attacks have not been officially confirmed by Algerian authorities, testimonies suggest that the two suicide bombers were either killed by law enforcement or managed to detonate their explosive belts.

Algeria had not recorded a terrorist attack since 2017. On August 31, a suicide bomber with an explosive belt attempted to enter the police headquarters in Tiaret, about 350 km southwest of Algiers. Daesh (Islamic State) claimed responsibility for the attack, during which the attacker and two police officers were killed.

Expert Akram Kharief believes that the attacks could be the work of a "microgroup or lone wolves," having a media purpose in the context of the papal visit.

The Blida region has been, in the past, a stronghold of terrorist groups, but currently Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is believed to have fewer than 1,000 members, being pushed by the army in the guerrilla areas of Kabylia and the south.