Dellys

Dellys (Arabic: دلّس‎) is a small Mediterranean town in northern Algeria's coastal Boumerdès Province, almost due north of Tizi-Ouzou and just east of the river Sebaou.

It is notable for an Ottoman-era casbah, two colonial-era lighthouses (marking Cape Bengut), and some beaches; the principal activities of the area are fishing and farming.

In 1998 it had a population of 19,500 in the municipality.

Demographics

History

It was originally a Phoenician (Punic) founding, called Rusucurru or Rusuccuru.

As a town in the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis, it was important enough to become a suffragan bishopric.

In medieval times, the city was called Tedelles.

Bombing

On September 8, 2007, at least 30 people were killed and 47 injured in an Al-Qaeda-claimed suicide car bomb attack on an Algerian naval barracks in Dellys

Ecclesiastical history

In Roman times, Rusuccuru became an episcopal see. The names of a few of its bishops are known: