Sept 8 (Reuters) - A car bomb killed 17 people in eastern Algeria on Saturday, a security source said, two days after a suicide blast condemned by the government as a rebel bid to wreck efforts to end political violence.

Here is a chronology of recent militant activity in north Africa.

May 16, 2003 - Suicide bombers set off at least five explosions in Casablanca, Morocco, that hit a Spanish restaurant, a five-star hotel and a Jewish community centre. Forty-five people were killed, including 12 bombers, and about 60 were wounded.

June 13, 2004 - The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), Algeria's leading Islamic militant group, which has ties to al Qaeda, declares war on foreign people and companies.

Dec. 10, 2006 - A bus carrying foreign oil workers is bombed 10 km (6 miles) west of Algiers, killing the Algerian driver, a Lebanese worker and wounding nine others, including four Britons and an American.

Jan. 3, 2007 - A total of 14 gunmen are killed in clashes with security forces in and around Tunis on Dec. 23 and Jan. 3, rare serious breaches of security in a normally placid country.

Feb. 13 - Seven bombs go off almost simultaneously in Algeria, killing six people east of the capital Algiers in an elaborate assault by suspected Islamist rebels.

March 4 - Three Algerians and a Russian are killed in a roadside attack 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Algiers on a bus carrying workers for a Russian gas pipeline construction company.

March 11 - A Moroccan blows himself up in a Casablanca Internet cafe killing himself and wounding four people after a tussle with the owner of the cafe.

April 10 - Three suicide bombers detonate their explosive belts, killing themselves and at least one police officer and wounding more than 20 people in a police raid on a safe house in Casablanca, Morocco, during which a fourth man was shot dead.

April 11 - Bombs kill 33 people in Algeria's capital in attacks claimed by al Qaeda.

April 14 - Two suicide bombers killed themselves in an attack on U.S. diplomatic offices in Morocco's commercial hub Casablanca.

July 11 - A suicide bomber detonates an explosives-laden vehicle near a military barracks, killing himself and about eight others in the restive Kabylie region east of Algiers. Al Qaeda's north Africa wing later claimed responsibility.

Sept. 6 - A suicide bomb attack before a scheduled visit by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, kills 19 people and wounds 107 in Batna 430 km (270 miles) southeast of Algiers.

Sept. 8 - A car bomb kills 17 and wounds 30 others in the town of Dellys, east of Algiers.

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