Algeria summons US envoy to protest about terror alert

Algeria on Sunday denounced as irresponsible a US embassy alert about possible imminent attacks in the capital, Algiers, saying it had caused panic in a city already on edge after three suicide bombings.

"They take us for idiots," Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni told reporters.  "Who has an interest in causing panic? It is clear that there is scheming."  The Algerian Foreign Ministry summoned the US charge d'affaires and issued "a firm clarification" about the embassy's notice, saying in a statement the alert published on the embassy Web site was unacceptable, inopportune and fanciful. (Reuters)