Algiers - Algerian troops have discovered a mass grave holding at least 20 bodies during an offensive against an Islamic extremist stronghold south of Algiers, the daily newspaper El- Khabar said yesterday.
The military was pursuing its assault on the radical Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in the Ouled Allel region and has killed two of the fundamentalist guerrillas' emirs, named as Beggas and Laazraoui, as well as a score of their fighters, a senior officer said, according to press reports.
Men of the country's civil protection unit on Tuesday began recovering bodies from a deep well in the region, where troops have this month been carrying out a major sweep to wipe out a GIA base, El-Khabar reported.