34 reported killed at fake roadblock

PARIS - Muslim guerillas killed 34 people at a fake road block in a southern Algerian town, including 20 bus passengers who had…

PARIS - Muslim guerillas killed 34 people at a fake road block in a southern Algerian town, including 20 bus passengers who had their throats slit, Algerian newspapers have reported. The official death toll given earlier by security forces was nine.

The massacre, one of the worst reported in nearly five years of violence, took place on Monday night south of the Saharan desert town of Laghouat. It was near a road junction, leading to Hassi R'mel, Algeria's biggest gas field.

The newspaper Liberte said that, near Bouterkfine, the passengers of a bus were told to get out for identity checks - which, turned into a nightmare. One by one their throats were coldly slit. "Some hostages tried to flee. Some were shot by the terrorists and then finished off and mutilated with knives."