ALGIERS (Reuters) -- A bomb exploded beside a police station in Algeria overnight, wounding at least five people in the first direct attack on a police post in several years in the north African country, residents and police said on Monday.

The attack, which occurred in the town of Reghaia 30 km (20 miles) east of the capital Algiers, was probably carried out by Islamist guerrillas, they said. They had no further details.

Sporadic clashes between Islamist guerrillas and security forces normally take place in isolated rural areas of the oil-producing country.

Up to 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the ensuing bloodshed. The violence has sharply subsided in the past few years.

The FIS remains banned and a state of emergency first imposed in 1992 is still in force.