The first temblor occurred at 2:36 am (0136 GMT), with its epicentre in mountains about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Blida, a garrison town 50 kilometres south of Algiers. It registered 4.4 on the Richter scale.

The second, measuring 4.0 on the scale, took place at 8:08 am and was centered 25 kilometres south of Tizi Ouzou, a major town in the Kabylie region 110 kilometres east of the capital, the Algerian Centre for Research in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Geophysics stated.

No casualties or damage were reported in either incident.

Northern Algeria is frequently shaken by earthquakes.

One on May 21 claimed some 2,300 lives and injured 10,000 people in Algiers and several other towns close to the Mediterranean coast of the north African country. It measured 6.8 on the Richter scale.

That was the worst natural disaster to afflict Algerians since a 1980 earthquake killed about 3,000 people, mainly in the city of Chlef, 200 kilometres (125 miles) west of Algiers.

Three quakes since May, according to the research centre, registered as high as 5.8 on the scale. Tremors of that magnitude can cause slight damage to well-designed buildings, but are a serious threat to badly constructed ones.

TERRA.WIRE