SEVEN people were killed and 26 injured when a bomb exploded in a Blida market, 50km (30 miles) south of Algiers, witnesses said yesterday.
The bomb, hidden in a flower pot, went off in the morning rush at Errahba market, northern Blida, the witnesses added. The market was packed with shoppers ahead of the Muslim feast of Eid al Adha (sacrifice) Thursday.
Earlier, it was reported that Algerian security forces have tracked down and surrounded an Islamic fundamentalist gang which massacred over 50 villagers since last Friday.
According to local press reports, the group, about 20 strong and led by a man known as Ayoub, was holed up in a bunker in an olive grove, not far from where 31 villagers were slaughtered in the early hours of Monday at Chaib Mohamed, south of the capital.
Local people heard helicopters and loud explosions during the confrontation, the dailies El Watan and Tribune said.
The Tribune added that the same group was responsible for cutting the throats of 22 people last Friday night in Menaa village, close to Boufarik, 35km (22 miles) south of Algiers.
On Tuesday, the remaining residents of the farm settlement at Chaib Mohamed left their homes for the nearby town of Chebli, pushing carts loaded with their possessions or packed into lorries.
Shocked survivors of the Chaib Mohamed massacre told journalists that about 30 extremists descended on the isolated settlement at around 1:30 a.m., setting booby traps at the exits to block emergency services and security forces.
They kicked in doors and killed the women. Three pregnant women were disembowelled.
Villagers said they recognised four of the attackers as being from the locality.
Security forces have been out in force searching for guerrillas ahead of parliamentary elections on June 5th.
More than 180 people have been killed this month in rebel raids, mainly on villages between the mountains and Algiers.
About 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict between the guerrillas and government faces since early 1992, when the authorities cancelled a general election in which the outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) had taken a commanding lead.