Paris - Suspected Muslim fundamentalists massacred 44 people on Sunday night in a hamlet 25 km south of Algiers, residents said yesterday. News of the latest massacre emerged as Algerian newspapers reported that troops, backed by helicopters, had killed more than 300 rebels in a two-week offensive and now had scores more trapped in mountains.
More than 90 villagers, including childen, died in massacres last week in hamlets in Blida province and neighbouring areas.
One newspaper said these were carried out to try to force the military to ease its stranglehold on Islamists trapped in its offensive which began when a woman, kidnapped during an earlier massacre, escaped. She tipped off authorities about a rebel hideout in the Attatba area of Blida. - (Reuter)