PARIS, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A ferry sailing from France to Algeria with 1,400 people on board was turned around after a bomb alert on Saturday and passengers were evacuated on return to Marseille, police said.

A police spokesman said the alert was triggered by an anonymous phone call to the Algerian consulate in Lyon warning of a "car packed with explosives".

The ferry, the "Tarik", arrived back in the French port of Marseille shortly after 1700 GMT on Saturday accompanied by a fire boat and was met by a fleet of ambulances.

Al Qaeda's North African wing claimed responsibility for twin car bombs on Tuesday that killed more than 30 people at U.N. offices and a court building in Algiers, saying it had targeted "the slaves of America and France".

The attacks, the deadliest assault in Algiers in years, followed a string of similar bombings after Islamist rebels in the country adopted the al Qaeda name at the start of the year. (Reporting by Jean Francois Rosnoblet; Editing by Charles Dick)

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