Two suicide bombers detonated explosive vests in the centre of Blida (a city roughly 40 kilometres south of Algiers) on Monday 13 April, with one attacker targeting a major police station on Boulevard Mohamed Boudiaf. Open-source footage verified by journalists shows at least one officer and several bystanders were knocked down in the blasts, though the full casualty toll remains unknown as Algerian authorities have yet to issue any official statement. The attack coincided with a historic visit to Algeria by Pope Leo XIV, and was followed by a wave of apparent disinformation on social media seeking to deny the incident had occurred at all.