Two bombings at United Nations offices in Algeria that resulted in 37 deaths killed 17 UN workers, the international organization officially confirmed on Friday.

Rescue workers clear the rubble of a UN building bombed by an affiliate of al-Qaeda on Tuesday, killing 37 people in Algiers, on Wednesday.
(Associated Press)

The car bombs, which detonated about 10 minutes apart, struck near a government building and the UN offices in Algiers, the capital, on Tuesday.

Al-Qaeda's North African wing claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed 37 people, according to a government count.

The latest death toll, including those announced by the world body's deputy spokeswoman, Marie Okabe, marked the most devastating terror strike against United Nations workers since 2003, the year bombs exploded at the UN's Baghdad headquarters, killing 22 people.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pledged Friday to "spare no effort" to ensure security for UN staff around the world, and said the UN would retain its presence in Algeria.

"Words cannot begin to do justice to the grief I feel" about the high UN death toll, Ban said in a statement, adding the "devastatingly high number" of innocent Algerians and nationals from other countries was also cause for mourning.

"I stand with the people of Algeria and the wider region in the face of the scourge of terrorism," he said. "This was an attack not only against the United Nations, not only against Algerians, but against humankind itself."

In 2003, then UN chief Kofi Annan pulled all international staff out of Iraq following a second bombing at the UN headquarters in Baghdad. Since then, the number of staffers in Iraq has remained low. 

Ban has asked all UN staff worldwide to observe a minute of silence at 10 a.m. ET Monday to honour those who died in Algeria.

With files from the Associated Press