An al-Qaeda splinter group has said it carried out a suicide attack on a paramilitary police base in southern Algeria which left 24 people wounded.

"We inform you that we are behind the explosion that occurred this morning at Tamanrasset," the group told the AFP news agency on Saturday.

The statement, sent just hours after the attack, was signed by the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA).

A suicide bomber drove a four-wheel drive vehicle packed with explosives into the premises of the paramilitary police base, according to the Reuters news agency.