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ALGIERS, June 6 (Reuters) - A small bomb exploded near a police station in Tizi Ouzou town in Algeria's politically volatile Kabylie region on Wednesday, killing one person, residents said.

The bomb, believed to have been placed in a bag or box near the building, was the first to hit an urban area since a small device exploded in the eastern city of Constantine on May 16 killing one policeman.

Islamist armed groups often set off bombs in mountainous rural areas in their fight against government forces in the large oil- and gas-exporting north African country but have started to target towns in recent months.

"I was inside the law courts building when I heard a big explosion. I left the building and ran and found out that it was a bomb," a local resident said, saying the blast had gone off near the courts and an adjoining police station.

Some residents said the dead person was believed to have been a police officer. A police spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Up to 200,000 people have been killed in political bloodshed since 1992 when supporters of a now-outlawed Muslim fundamentalist party that was poised to win elections that year subsequently launched an armed rebellion against the state.

The violence has dropped sharply in recent years but a recent spate of bombings claimed by al Qaeda's north Africa's wing has threatened Algeria's attempts to rebuild.

The rebel group, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), claimed responsibility for triple suicide bombings that killed 33 people on April 11 in Algiers.

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