Two officers were injured in the explosion, according to local reports

A policeman managed to foil an attempted suicide attack in eastern Algeria on Sunday, opening fire on the bomber and triggering the explosives belt he was wearing, officials said.

The national police force said the attacker had been approaching a police station in the city of Constantine when the officer shot him.

“An officer who was in front of the police headquarters, underneath a building that is home to a dozen families, responded energetically and heroically after several warnings, targeting with precision the explosive belt worn by a terrorist,” police said in a statement cited by APS news agency.

At the time of the foiled attack around 9.00 pm (2000 GMT), a strong explosion was heard near the police station in central Constantine, eastern Algeria’s main hub, APS reported.

Two officers were injured in the explosion, according to local reports. Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the “terrorist attack,” police said. Last week the army said it had killed 14 “terrorists“, a term used to refer to armed Islamists in Algeria, during a major search operation in the Bouira region, 125 kilometres (77 miles) southeast of the capital Algiers.

Despite the adoption in 2005 of a charter for peace and reconciliation, designed to turn the page on the brutal 1991-2002 Algerian civil war that left 200,000 people dead, Islamist groups remain active in the country’s south and east, largely targeting security forces. At least 22 armed Islamists have been killed in these regions since the start of the year, according to an AFP toll based on official figures.